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A STUDY TO COMPARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS CONCERNING STUDENT ADVISING AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY By Saed Sam Saboury A DISSERTATION Submitted to Michigan State University in partial fulfillment of the requirem ents for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Agriculture and Extension Education May 1988 ABSTRACT A STUDY TO COMPARE THE PERCEPTIONS OF ACADEMIC ADVISORS CONCERNING STUDENT ADVISING AT MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY by Saed Sam Saboury Purpose."T o compare some perceptions of academic advisors at Michigan State University in regard to their functions, student development and conditions. Emphasis is given to the advisors’ perceptions of academic advising responsibilities of undergraduate advisors. Method.—Seventy-seven Michigan State University undergraduate academic advisors w ere included in the study. Longitudinal type information was gathered in the following categories: (1) background and personal information, (2) advisement history, (3) degree status, and (4) job classification. Questionnaires were returned by 73 percent of the sample, which resulted in 77 academic advisors being analyzed for this study. The analyses included chi-square and an One Way Anova model. Eindingi.—Historically, academic advising has been a function of faculty members w ith the prim ary purpose being to facilitate academic progress. The change to a more diverse student body and emphasis on the development of the total student appeared to make academic advising more than assigning classes or monitoring academic progress. There was a lack of a clear and concise definition of academic advising or who should be performing the advisement function. There w ere an unlimited num ber of definitions for academic advising. It appeared that Saed Sam Saboury professionals in the advisement field were not sure of w hat was going on or w hat should be happening with student advisement. The academic advising function was more than having a knowledge of a specific subject area. The data insisted on the need for a more total student and institutional approach and hinted at the fact that faculty do not necessarily know all they should about the institution. It can be inferred that advisors need in-service so they can more accurately inform advisees about academic opportunities, as well as other more general types of information. The findings of this study concluded that academic advisors working within the same system do not have a common understanding of the responsibilities of the academic advisor. They appear to be handling the advisement function independently of any organized university system. The result appears to be th at the advisement a student receives is totally dependent on who is doing the advising. The findings of this study concluded that academic advisors w ith terminal degrees handle the advisement responsibility w ith an emphasis on the "academic" student while those academic advisors without non-terminal degrees are more concerned with development of the student as a person. These results indicate that students requiring more than class selection are better served by non-term inal degree advisors. The findings of this study concluded that minority advisors tend to be less concerned with students receiving non-academic experiences to enhance their college experience. If minority students are being advised by minority advisors, the implications could have significant impact on the status of Saed Sam Saboury minority graduates as they attem pt to enter the competitive world which may require non-academic skills. The findings of this study suggest that older advisors tend to be more conservative in their approach to advisement. This would appear to be consistent with human nature. If the institution would begin an on-going inservice training program, such issues could easily be addressed. The findings of this study suggests that female advisors are more likely to be concerned about the personal development of the student. They also appear to be more organized in their approach to advisement. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The researcher wishes to express his sincere appreciate to those persons at Michigan State University that contributed to the development and successful completion of this study. Appreciation is expressed to the members of the doctoral committee, Dr. James Jay, Dr. Frank Bobbit, and Dr. Thomas Gunnings, for their direction, assistance, and support and encouragement throughout the researching process. A special note of gratitude is due to the chairman. Dr. Harrison Gardner, for his tireless efforts, continued support, and effective guidance and leadership from beginning to conclusion of this study. A special thanks is due my jury of experts for their assistance in developing the survey instrument. Also, a special thanks goes to those academic advisors who returned the survey instrument. Their honesty made this a rewarding study. I also would like to extend a special thankyou to Dr. and Mrs. Don Wallace for their continued encouragement and support. Finally, I would like to thank my wife, Mina, and our only child, Tina, for their continued love and strong support, which 1 relied upon throughout this effort. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................... ii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................. vi LIST OF APPENDICES........................................................................................ viii CHAPTER I. II. INTRODUCTION............................................................................ 1 Statement of the Problem ........................................................ Purpose of the S tu d y ................................................................ A ssum ptions.............................................................................. Research Q u estio n s.................................................................. H ypotheses................................................................................ Definition of T e r m s .................................................................. Limitations of the S tu d y .......................................................... 10 14 16 17 17 18 19 REVIEW OF LITERATURE............................................................ 20 Historical Background of Academic A d v isin g ...................... The Importance of Academic A d v isin g ................................ Modern Definitions of Academic A dvising............................ The Acdemic Advisor's Responsibilities................................ The Faculty Advisor in Search of Excellence........................ Professional Counselors as Academic A dvisors.................... Key Elements That Make Academic Advising Effective — Key Student Needs of Academic A dvising............................ Assessing Academic Advising in the 1 9 8 0 's........................ 20 23 24 26 29 31 33 37 40 iii III. IV. RESEARCH PROCEDURES................................................................ 47 Introduction ............................................................................. Selection of the Population...................................................... Development and Refinement of the In stru m en t................ Establishing Procedures of Data Collection............................ Collection of the D ata............................................................... Procedures for Treatment of the Data .......................... S um m ary.............................................. 47 47 50 52 54 57 59 PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA................................. 60 Michigan State University Undergraduate Academic Advisor Background Inform ation........................................ 60 Summary ................................................................................. 66 Analysis of D ata....................................................................... 67 Advising Responsibilities of Undergraduate Academic A dvisors................................................................................. 67 85 Factors That Influence Student D evelopm ent.................... Summary of Perceptions of the Responsibilities of an Academic A d v iso r............................................................... 88 Summary of the Role of the Academic A dvisor.................. 104 Summary of Who Should Do Academic A dvising................ 105 Summary of What Had Been the Factors That Made Academic Advising Effective.............................................. 106 Summary of What Were the Factors That Affected Student A ttritio n ................................................................................. 107 Summary of What Was Currently Being Done by Colleges and Universities to Make Academic Advising More Effective................................................................................. 107 V. CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS .............................. 109 Summary of What Had Been the Accepted Definitions of Academic A dvising............................................................... Conclusions............................................................................. Conclusions Relative to Hypotheses Number One ............ Conclusions Relative to Hypotheses Number T w o Conclusions Relative to Hypotheses Number T h re e Conclusions Relative to Hypotheses Number F o u r Conclusions Relative to Hypotheses Number F iv e Implications of the S tu d y .................................................... 110 Ill Ill 114 114 115 115 116 iv VI. APPENDICES................................................................................... 120 VII. BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................ 164 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Graduation Rate Within Four Years From Any Gollege................. 38 2. Sample Population - Undergraduate Academic Advising on on Campus by College....................................................................... 48 3. Sample Population - Personal Background..................................... 49 4. Curricular Code of Undergraduate Advisors in Sample Population 33 3. Sample Population - Years of Undergraduate Advising Experience 36 6. Sample Population - Number of Advisees Assigned to Academic A dvisor................................................................................................. 56 7. Sample Population - Highest Degree Held as of 1985-86............... 56 8. Age Status of Undergraduate Academic Advisors of the Sample Population as Compared to Age Status of the Michigan State University Academic Faculty and S taff............................................ 61 9. Sexual Status of the Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population as Compared to Sexual Status of Michigan State University Academic Faculty and S taff.................. 62 10. Racial Status of Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population as Compared to Racial Status of the Michigan State University Academic Faculty and S taff............................................ 63 11. Area's of Responsibility of Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population Compared to the Area's of Responsibility of all Michigan State University Undergraduate Academic A dvisors............................................................................................... 63 12. Job Gassification of Undergraduate Advisors - Sample Population 64 13. Highest Degree Held by the Undergraduate Advisors - Sample Population............................................................................................. 65 vi 14. Number of Years of Undergraduate Academic Advising of Members 66 of the Sample P o p u latio n ....................................................... 15. Advising Function by Age of Undergraduate Academic Advisors... 69 16.Advising Function by Sex of Undergraduate Academic Advisors 72 17.Advising Function by Race of Undergraduate Academic Advisors 75 18.Advising Function by Number of Years of Advising Experience Grouping of Undergraduate Academic A dvisors.................................. 77 19. Advising Function by Number of Advisees Per Advisor Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisors....................................................79 20. Advising Function by College Grouping of Undergraduate Academic A dvisors................................................................................................... 81 21. Advising Function by Highest Degree of Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisors............................................................................... 83 vii LIST OF APPENDICES Appendix Page I. Letters to Jury of Experts................................................................ 120 II. Survey In stru m en t......................................................................... 126 III. Letters to Sample Population of Academic A d v iso rs............... 133 IV. Follow-up Letter to Sample Population of Academic Advisors 134 V. Letter of Approval of Doctoral Research Proposal..................... 133 VI. Supportive Tables of D ata............................................................. 138 VII. Chi - Square Statistic...................................................................... 163 viii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION In the early traditional college setting, students came to the campus ready to study for a specific career area. Careers and colleges w ere usually selected during the students' secondary school years and it was unusual for students to deviate from their earlier choice. Choices w ere limited in scope and sons often followed in their fathers' footsteps. Those students seeking college after graduation from high school w ere almost always well prepared with solid skills in the basic courses of mathematics, science. English, history, and the competency areas of reading and writing. Further, students often attended the same colleges as their parents and other family members. They lived with the university presidents or their professors. The college president and faculty assumed the role of the parents by insuring the students were under control and progressing toward their academic goals. The students felt "at home" in the nurturing college environment. In short, this was their home away from home during their college years. These colleges w ere often small in size and built upon a firm religious base of commitment to people. Their strength was their devotion to helping their fellow man by imparting knowledge and aiding young people in becoming adults. These traits were a far cry from those in the huge universities presently found throughout the United States. Unlike the smaller colleges, large universities were often overwhelmed by shear numbers making the task of personalizing their services difficult at best. The results would lead some large universities, whose strength was manifested in their ability to give a minimum education to a maximum 1 2 num ber of students, to struggle w ith maintaining the highest of standards with large enrollments. In the earlier colleges, the president and faculty established rules and regulations and forced them on the students. The students followed the rules and regulations and understood that failure to do so would lead to discipline and possibly dismissal. Parents and society expected the colleges to conduct their affairs w ith students in this manner and supported their actions. Under this carefully structured system advising was furnished by faculty members. The result was rigid and inflexible academic curriculums built on a strong academic base of the basics, supported by specific courses within each major area of study. When combined with the strong academic credentials and attitudes of the students, there w ere normally few academic problems. Academic advising, as such, was not needed since those experiencing academic difficulties either worked harder and succeeded or w ere dismissed for academic failure. In those early days, a college education was usually limited to a young man from a higher income family who could afford the tuition. It was a tim e w hen the majority of young men entered the work force straight from secondary school and the usual role for women was wife and mother. These early students understood their role and accepted the rules and regulations of college life. Then, changes began that would for ever alter that safe, "home away from home" college environment. In the mid 1940's, the college picture began to change. After World War II returning veterans began to flood the college campuses using their government tuition money. Junior colleges and community colleges w ere established to meet the needs of these older 3 students. By the early 1960's, the number of women and minorities of all ages began to increase on campuses. Non-traditional educational opportunities began to have an impact on the college campus. Part-time programs, adult education, and eitension programs were developed to attract the older, working, non-traditional student. Educational technology, the information explosion and sophisticated public communication systems began to explode the student's information horizons. The typical traditional student arriving on college campuses late in the 1980's was no longer young, white, male, and wealthy. The 1980's student profile found an older male or female who might be white, hispanic, black, asian, Native American, or foreign entering the college scene. Where w ealth and payment in cash for educational services marked the typical student in the early years, the student of the 1980’s attended college under a num ber of financial programs. Unlike past students who simply sought knowledge, the 1980 students w ere often seeking career preparation. These students arrived on campus and immediately faced a bewildering num ber of personal and academic decisions. Even their career selection would be threatened when the student began to face the rigorous career demands and scholastic competition of the college environment of the 1980's. During this time, first term college students had the experience, wisdom, or maturity to make the appropriate decisions necessary to have a rewarding college experience without some assistance. The student of the 1980's needed to be guided, counseled, advised and supported until they gained the tools and experience needed to become a viable, functioning part of the college environment. If these traditional students of the 1980's w ere to be sustained in their chosen college setting, college advisors would have had to play a major role in insuring that they had the information, 4 assistance and support necessary to solve their college related problems. In addition, this information, assistance and support would need to be made available according to individual student needs not on an infleiible schedule. Experts had agreed that there were two major goals advisors should seek to achieve w hen advising college students. First, the advising process should result in the students gaining self insight into their personal needs, goals and responsibilities so they could achieve a level of well being and personal adjustment. The advisor's aim should be to assist the student in identifying personal problems and developing methods of dealing effectively with their problems when they are away from the advisor. (Stickle. 1982) The second major advising goal was to assist the student in gaining control over their academic environment. The advisor's aim should be to move the student through the academic arena at a rate that insured that the student reaches their academic goals. At the same time, the advisor would insure that the student was gaining adequate knowledge to perform successfully in their chosen field. (Burke, 1981) Successful advising was often a mixing of both goals with each enhancing the other. The successful advisor would help students in achieving an appropriate level of social and self insight and adjustment while meeting the academic requirem ents of the university and their specific area of study. (Hardee, 1970) For the purpose of this study, the definition of advising was one person assisting another in adapting more efficiently to the college environment while meeting the academic requirements. Because advising involved interacting with students who were under continuous stress both academically and socially, advisors needed to be cognizant of their advisees as a complete person. These students w ere functioning in a period of rapid personal change and emotional development, especially during their critical 5 freshm an year in the university. Advisors had to be sensitive to the needs of the whole student rather than dealing w ith only one part of the student's life. This could best be done with an informal coordination of all facets of the student’s counseling services. (DeLisle, 1965) Coordination of these services and timely updated information would be critical to advisors if they w ere to be successful in their role. Counselors needed formal identification of their specific academic role, also. (Hallberg, 1964) Advisors used many different styles and techniques as they performed their advising and counseling duties. One of the most effective counseling techniques used by advisors was interviewing. (Siegel. 1968) Although each advisor developed his or her own advising style of interacting with counselees, the art of interviewing was usually included within that style. To be effective, the advisor had to prepare for the interview. An interview could be successful when the student felt comfortable with both the physical setting and the advisor to whom s/h e had been assigned. Even students who simply showed up (or appeared) at the advisors office, commonly referred to as "drop ins", should eip ect an advisor to be able to draw a folder or bring up a computer screen and make decisions based on information gathered from previous counseling sessions. Advisor preparation should have included a brief review of the student's folder to refresh the advisor s memory and some basic notes be prepared to insure all appropriate information was covered during the session. Notes also should be taken during the session. These notes should be used at the conclusion of the session to review w hat was covered w ith the student, to seek further information and to compile a summary session statement. (Robinson, 1950) 6 A relaxed atmosphere, in which both the student and advisor feel at ease, provided the best setting for a successful interview. In such an atmosphere the student would have most often been open and honest and the advisor would have felt comfortable and have given the student their full attention for the period of the interview. (Siegel, 1968) A successful interview could only take place if the student were being assisted by the advisor. Normally this required a well thought out set of steps in the problem solving process. This could only occur when the student was honest about w hat the problem really was and the advisor had the means to help solve the problem. (Robinson, 1950) During the counseling process, it was imperative that the student was an active participant in the process and was guided to insure he or she assumed responsibility for the short and long term solution. When the interview was completed and the advisee had departed, summary notes needed to be added to their file as an updating for the next counseling session. (Siegel, 1968) Standardized tests could be used as an advising tool in conjunction with interviewing to monitor the student's progress and any changes that may have occurred. Generally, these tests consisted of achievement tests, aptitude tests, personality inventories, projection techniques, and other assessment sources. However, the true "objectivity" of these tests continued to be an area of concern and a single test result should not be viewed as conclusive. However, the information could have been of value if used in conjunction with the advisor s personal observations and knowledge of the students, their personality and behavior. (Siegel, 1968) As the college environment became broader and more stressful, the need for broader areas of counseling developed. College professors once 7 provided all the advising for their students. This was possible since the student either met the academic demands or w ent home. If the student failed, it was viewed as the student's fault or inability to meet acceptable academic standards. Students did not need advise on financial aid. family problems, student services, etc.. Advisors were only concerned with the academic process and they handled it well. College campus directories usually listed advising and counseling in at least the areas of academics, placement, vocational, psychological, health, financial aid, and religion. In most colleges and universities these advising and counseling services w ere not coordinated or centralized and it was entirely possible for a student client to not be receiving the adequate counseling even though outstanding services could have been available in uncoordinated areas throughout the institution. (Henggeler, 1980) After interviewing several of the undergraduate academic advisors at Michigan State University, it became apparent that this was the case at Michigan State University in the mid-1980‘s. (September. 1985) For advising to be truly effective, each counselor/advisor had to know the full extent of other counseling the student was receiving. They also had to be knowledgeable of the academic status of the student and how all the components of the student's college experiences fit together. This would require a formal computer based software system which would store basic student information which would be accessible by those advising the student. This does not mean that specific privileged information would be included. It would have meant the creation of an information pathway on that particular student client that would have insured the total needs of the student w ere met while keeping personal/academic information confidential. Unfortunately, this sharing of information was usually costly and not 8 available on v ery large university campuses during the 1980's. (Harper, Herring, Kelly, and Schinoff, 1980) During the last fifteen years, most colleges had become more and more concerned w ith the problem of attrition and retention. Both were concerns at Michigan State University. Many colleges broadened the areas of counseling offered to students in an effort to reduce attrition. However, this broadening lacked coordination of efforts to insure that each advisor was aware of the interaction of other counselors and advisors with the student. Research, education and training was conducted in an attem pt to better understand and deal with this increasing problem. In spite of these major efforts, attrition remained a major concern of most colleges and universities. (Pantages and Creedon (1978) The 1980's found the college student in a consumers market. Each student had more and more institutions marketing them early in their high school years. At the same time, the cost of an education was continuing to rise, putting stress on those without resources. Federal budget cuts continued to have a negative impact on student funds, resulting in fewer low-income students having the resources to attend college. When combined w ith the lower num ber of students graduating from high school, it appeared a decline in the num ber of potential traditional college students would continue. However, the competition for academically talented students continued to be extremely keen. Secondary school counselors w ere in an unique position to service the needs of the college bound student. It was their responsibility to ensure that prospective college students made the best possible college choice to ensure personal college success. It was critical that these high school counselors gather adequate data during the students' high school years and insure that 9 the students complete appropriate preparatory coursework for their particular college choice. Historically, the attrition rate had been approximately 30 percent of the enrollment in American colleges and universities. (Cope and Hannah, 1973; Pantages and Greedon, 1978) Cope and Hannah's research (1973) revealed that bachelor's degrees w ere obtained by only 40-30 percent of entering students after four years, with 20-30 percent obtaining their degree at a later date. The remaining 20-30 percent never received their degree. An extensive amount of the literature in the areas of attrition focused on identifying dropouts and assessing their reasons for leaving the college setting. First, the literature addressed the problem of defining w hat was meant by the term s "attrition" and "dropout". Then it expanded to include research in areas concerning age, sex. socio-economic status, hometown location, high school size and type, academic factors, personality factors, college environment, financial factors, and health factors of the student. The personal student interview technique was used to collect this data. The research continued into the non-traditional student arena. In short, students w ho had "dropped-out" as traditional students might slot back into the academic setting through their employment, after the raising (or partially raising) of children, or in any one of the creative programs designed for recruiting the non-traditional student. The Studies of College Attrition: 1930-1973 was one of the most valuable and meaningful pieces of research on college attrition. Data collected in each phase covered at least a four year period and used precise operational definitions. (Carol F. Greedon et al., 1975). 10 The results of these studies clearly indicated that colleges would have to shift their attrition concerns from areas of predicting academic success to the prevention of attrition if they expected to compete successfully in the dwindling traditional student pool. Further, the many-faceted advising system would need to centralize its basic data information to insure th at all of the students' academic, social and emotional needs were met. The needs of the student could only be met when all advisors and counselors who had impact on a student w ere aware of the services of all other advisors and counselors. (Habley, 1983) What this coordination could have done was to have insured that the student felt "safe", "at home" and a part of his or her chosen college environment. If the college failed to create this trust the student might search for this feeling of belonging at another institution. The literature, experts on college advising and attrition, and coliege students seemed to confirm the need for a different approach to academic advising. Although there w ere many ideas about how to solve the advisement problem, one fact stood out: "the advice a student received depended on who the advisor was". This study focused on the apparent lack of consistency among those doing college student advising. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Articles are constantly published concerning the number of students who enter four year colleges but never finish their academic program. The causes of this problem vary. There are many ideas offered as solutions to the problem. Many researchers believe that the students themselves can provide much of the information needed to attack the problem. However, 11 poor academic advising and the lack of information concerning chosen majors w ere the most frequent concerns cited among 1,100 first-year freshm en who completed a survey conducted during Spring Term 1984 by the Office of Undergraduate Education at Michigan State University. (The State News. November. 1984) This lack of adequate, or mis-guided advising had a negative impact on the number of students who actually graduated within the four year period normally reserved for completion of the Bachelor's Degree. Pantages and Creedon (1975) stated that: For every ten students who enter college in the United States, only four will graduate from that college four years later. One more will eventually graduate from the college at some point after those four years, (p. 49) Unfortunately, in spite of on-going studies, most colleges and universities continued to know very little about the reasons a student drops out. Where colleges or universities maintained records concerning student withdrawal, the reasons for w ithdrawal were most often summarized as financial, academic and advising, personal, and unknown. Seldom did the institutions conduct ezit interviews to provide more detailed information. (Pantages and Creedon, 1978) Michigan State University students sometimes complained because they felt their advisors w ere unaware of the total course offerings w ithin their major area. These complaints suggested that not all Michigan State University advisors w ere adequately informed in some critical areas of the academic programs. A more coordinated system of well-informed, timely communication w ith Michigan State University students might have been in order. This 12 coordination was especially important in the critical first quarter of the college experience if students w ere to graduate in the traditional four year time period. Originally, this study was designed to survey only counselors in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources and the College of Education. However, the researcher found the literature consistently refered to University-wide academic advising and thus it was decided that only such a population could generate the appropriate data. It is important that Michigan State counselors were aware of their total responsibilities as college counselors and have adequate data concerning the student at their fingertips. This responsibility included planning their time to insure adequate time for counseling, insuring they keep informed on ail aspects of the academic programs offered on campus, and to recognize their academic function exists to serve the needs of the academic product—the student. (Verner and Krupka, 1983) It should have been the responsibility of Michigan State University to insure that these counselors/advisors received a formal orientation when first assuming counseling opportunities and a formal, structured program for on-going training. (Bostaph and Moore, 1980) Further, these counselors had a right to have access to a formal, coordinated, centralized system to provide critical, timely academic information as well as cross information concerning related counseling information. Hof man (1974) found the following w ere necessary for effective college-level advising programs: 1. An understanding of the organization of the advisement program, w ith delineation of lines of authority and channels of communication, must be clear to all concerned. 2. Advisement responsibilities must be clearly defined. 13 3. Faculty advisers should be encouraged to improve their advisement performance through access to and participation in in-service training programs. 4. The advising must allow for changing campuses, students, curricula, etc.. An editorial in the Michigan State University newspaper, The State News, in 1984, stated “Poor academic advising and lack of information . . . must be addressed by University officials immediately." (November. 1984) Such comments indicated that the Michigan State University student had the right to feel a part of a coordinated university community. This could not have been accomplished if the student w ere subjected to fragmented counseling services. Michigan State University should have offered a coordinated counseling program that fit the needs of the counselors advisors and the students. Only if each person who counseled and advised the student were aware of all other services impacting the student could this have been accomplished. Michigan State University continued to attract the finest students at a national level. However, the extent the University retained these students throughout the traditional four year program was heavily impacted by the extent and quality of the total counseling resources provided throughout their academic experience. This counseling experience was especially important during the student's critical freshm an year when the student was breaking away from the home environment and "bonding" to "their" university. Unless the student experienced positive counseling reinforcement at the critical time 14 and felt they w ere part of the college environment the student would seek a more supportive academic environment. (Grites, 1979) Counseling and advising throughout Michigan State University should be structured, coordinated and continuous throughout the student's academic life. Basic information from every counseling and advising session experienced by the student should be stored in a common data base available to all counseling and advising staff. Special attention should be centered on the critical freshm an year. Only w ell-trained and well informed counselors and advisors can provide this critical service. Because of the diverse nature of the college student in the 1980's, how an advisor perceives the responsibilities of an academic advisor can have a major impact on the success of the student in the college environment. If the advisement system maintains a consistent minimum expectation of performance, then each student will be assured of receiving sufficient advice to succeed in their quest for college success. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the perceptions of the Michigan State University academic advisors in each college in regard to their functions, student behavior and conditions. Specifically, the objectives of this study w ere as follows: 1. To determine if academic advisors in the various colleges at Michigan State University perceive their responsibilities similarly. 15 2. To determine if perceptions of the responsibilities of an academic advisor is related to age, sex, race and his/her college. 3. To determine if academic advisors in the various colleges at Michigan State University perceive university conditions and student behavior as limiting factors on an advisor's ability to fulfill their advising/counseling responsibilities. 4. To determine if academic advisors in the various colleges at Michigan State University similarly perceive the role of the academic advisement system. 5. To determine if academic advisors with terminal degrees perceive their responsibilities the same as non-terminal academic advisors. The results of this study would: 1. Reveal empirically based information for advisors, Michigan State University personnel, other four year institutions and the general public regarding the role the high school and parental influence have on the students' attitude toward remaining at Michigan State. 2. Reveal empirically based information for advisors. Michigan State University personnel, other four year institutions and the general public regarding the influence the students' personal and environmental concerns have on their decision to remain at Michigan State University. 3. Provide empirically based information which advisors. Michigan State University personnel, other four year institutions and the general public regarding the extent 16 advising and counseling functions are perceived as being carried out by Michigan State University advisors. 4. Provide empirically based information which Michigan State University and other four year Institutions could use to plan for more successful counseling and advising. 5. Provide empirically based information which Michigan State University could use as support w hen seeking resources for modification and expansion of the student advising/counseling system at Michigan State University. Assumptions The basic assumptions underlying this research were: 1. The concept of impacting student attrition through advising and advisor attitudes can be studied and analyzed. 2. This analysis can reveal trends in student attrition after the students have gone through various types of academic advising. 3. Nominal and ordinal data form a basis from which descriptive statem ents can be made. 4. This study is capable of inspiring further research regarding the factors in academic advising that influence success in lessening student attrition. 17 Research Questions The purpose of this study was to answer the following questions: 1. What impact did the perceptions of advisors about academic advisement have on the academic advising of students? 2. What impact did advising experience, academic degree held, age, race, and sex have on the perceptions of advisors? 3. What impact did the advising experience have on the development of students? 4. What impact did non-university factors have on the attrition of students? Hypotheses This study was designed to determine if student development was influenced by academic advising, and if so, w hether the reasons were attributed to advisor style, perceptions, or backgrounds. The following hypotheses were tested: Hi: There is a significant difference in the perception of the responsibilities of Michigan State University undergraduate academic advisors relative to the number of years advising undergraduates, sex, age, race, and the various colleges. H2 : There is a significant difference in the perceptions of the Michigan State University Undergraduate Advising System within the undergraduate academic advising staff at Michigan State University. 18 H3: There is a significant difference in the perceptions held by academic advisors at Michigan State University relative to the role university environment and student needs play in student development and the effectiveness of academic advising at impacting student development. H4: There is a significant difference in the perception of academic advisors at Michigan State University relative to the role the advisor plays in influencing a student's decision to stay at Michigan State University. H5: There is a significant difference in the perception of the academic advising responsibilities of an academic advisor w ith a term inal degree and those without term inal degrees. Definition of Terms Certain term s relating to advising and counseling will be used often in this study. To clarify the research design and make the meanings clear and concise to the reader, the following definitions will be used: 1. Academic Advising: Duties performed by full-time or part-tim e faculty members to assist students w ith making decisions regarding their personal, educational, and vocational needs (Hardee, 1970) 2. Attrition rate: The percentage of full-time students lost to a particular division within a college, lost to the college as a whole, or lost to higher education as a whole. This does not include students who "stop out" and retu rn in a different category some years later. 19 3. Perceived: To have taken hold of. felt, comprehended, or become aware of primarily through the senses of sight and hearing. (Smith, 1974) 4. Faculty advisors: Full-time or part-tim e faculty members who are advising on a less than 100%time basis. 3. Professional advisors: Full-time or part-tim e advisors who are assigned to advise students on a 100% time basis. 6. Terminal Degree: Those who have attained a Doctoral Degree. 7. Non-Terminal Degree: Those who have attained a Bachelor or Masters Degree. Limitations of the Study 1. The study will be limited to advisors, advising, and undergraduate students at Michigan State University. 2. The study will be limited to surveying 10% of the 1109 undergraduate advisors at Michigan State University. 3. The findings of this study will be generalized only to students and advisors who fit a profile of students who are attending or advisors who are advising at Michigan State University. CHAPTER TWO REVIEW of LITERATURE The literature relating to college advising has been reported in the following sections: (1) Historical Background of Academic Advising; (2) The Importance of Academic Advising; (3) Modern Definitions of Academic Advising; (4) The Academic Advisor's Responsibilities; (3) The Human Advisor in Search of Excellence; ( 6 ) Professional Counselors as Academic Advisors; (7) Key Elements That Make Academic Advising Effective; (8 ) Key Student Needs of Academic Advising; (9) Assessing Academic Advising in the 1980's. Historical Background of Academic Advising Despite the fact that academic advising had been practiced since the early days of higher education in the United States, it's recognition as a special area of interest in our institutions was a relatively new phenomenon. According to DeLisle (1963) . . . a search of the literature reveals practically no relevance to the matter of academic advising until the early twentieth cen tu ry ... (p. 3 ) Three major factors contributed to the lack of information about academic advising as a specific function in institutions of higher education. Grites (1979) stated that: There was no real necessity for an organized academic advising program in the early days of higher education since student populations w ere small and curricula w ere rigid, (p. 7) The second key factor was observed by Seppanen (1981) a s " ... the absence of a theoretical and operational recognition of the role of academic advising 20 21 in institutions of higher education." And, finally, the academic advising of students by designated faculty members was simply unknown in the institutions of higher education in this country in the early periods. DeLisle (1965) reported that: A century or more ago, specialized servings to students w ere unknown, however, were embedded in the institutional process and less complicated administration of that day. (p. 13) This period also witnessed an intimate relationship between faculty members and students. Nonnamaker (1959) reported that: . . . a homogeneous student body, a common curriculum, and the fact that faculty also served as advisors to their students contributed to the closeness of student-faculty relationships, (p. 10 ) The close relationship between the faculty and students did not last forever. In the nineteenth century, Institutions of Higher Education in this country were greatly influenced by German Universities. Universities in Germany perceived scholarship and research as the primary function of the teaching-learning process. Consequently, little attention was paid to the non-intellectual growth of students. The influence on the Institutions of Higher Education in the United States led to the intellectual development of students as the main purpose of these institutions. The close relationship between faculty members and students, practiced earlier, was abandoned. Evidence of this was provided by Nonnamaker (1959), who reported that: . . . one of the basic reasons for the change was the influence of the German universities upon American education. These universities w ere particularly noted for their use of the scientific method as a way of attacking problems, thus many American who studied in German universities returned imbued w ith the importance of research and the pursuit of scientific experimentation. Teachers so educated left students to their own devices. They no longer had time to be interested in them, (p. 9) By the beginning of the twentieth century, a new philosophy began to emerge in the institutions of higher education in the United States. This emerging philosophy called for a personal development of students and making the relationship between faculty members and students more personal. DeLisle (1965) found th at the concern for intellectualism was being replaced by the original emphasis on the development of the whole student evidenced in the colonial period. Nonnamaker (1959) recorded that change: At the beginning of the present century a number of new influences began to affect American education, and acted to reverse the philosophy and practice of impersonalization. Out of these influences emerged the field of student personnel work. Contributing to the movement w ere such influences as the ascendancy in elementary and secondary schools of individualized instruction; increased knowledge of the problems and capabilities of adolescents resulting from research in psychology and education; development of tests and testing; and changes in political, educational, and social philosophy, (p. 11) These shifts in student population and university philosophies created a need for a new element in the services offered by colleges for their students. It was the diversity of this new student population that made student advising more than matching student w ith course offering. Our society, and the need to have more college-educated people, demanded colleges open their doors to a wide-range of candidates and, thus, changed the art of college advising forever. 23 The Importance of Academic Advising In recent years schools, colleges, universities, and communities became aware of the importance of sound academic advising for college students. They had also become aware of the psychological effects of poor advising. It was obvious that academic advising played an im portant role in the life of the college student. Burke (1981) wrote: . . . academic advisement is an im portant part of the university life because it aids the students in determining and sustaining their course of study as well as career objective . . . (pp. 2 - 3 ) Chathaparampil (1971) observed: . . . that academic advisement is important because college students, as a group, are more heterogeneous. They differ physically and intellectually, and adjust differently to the university experience, (p. 1) Frances H. DeLisle (1965) in her Study of Academic Advising of Undergraduate Students felt th at most students who had difficulty in making decisions regarding future educational and vocational plans did so for a lack of information and understanding about themselves, and a lack of knowledge about possible appropriate alternatives for their potential achievements. DeLisle (1963) stated: Most students who come to college do not have a comprehension of the objectives of higher education and thus have difficulty arriving at an integration and unification of their experiences as they go along. They do need adequate counseling, (p. 1- 2 ) 24 Academic advising should have a significant role in molding the personality of institutions of higher learning in future years. Winston et al. (1982) stated that: .. .academic advising has great potential for reflecting change in modern higher education. The changing population of students, the need to increase retention, the need of students for adult role m odels. . . and the intent of many colleges and universities to provide educational program s. . . to educate the whole student have generated new interest in academic advising, (p. 3) Through reading the literature and conversations with academic advisors and other experts, it was apparent that the college student of 1980's had new and different advising needs than those of earlier years. It also was clear that colleges had an opportunity to make a significant impact on student development, growth and academic performance through the advisement process. Modern Definitions of Academic Advising As the student populations changed, so did the perception of academic advising. From the late 1940's and 1930's into the early and mid 1980's, academic advising evolved and changed. As late as the 1950's, academic advising was little more than an administrative function. A faculty advisor would meet with a student and approve or change the courses the student would be taking. With the revolution of the 1960‘s, academic advising became more a counseling function. Faculty members w ere encouraged to become closer to the student and be more concerned about the "person" than the student. The modern concept of academic advising began to take form in the 1970's. Grites (1979) revealed that academic advising was becoming a 25 decision-making process, integrating the student and advisor. The purpose of academic advising was to deal with the "total" student. Grites (1979) stated that academic advising was "on-going, multifaceted, and the responsibility of both student and advisor", (p. 8 ) To define academic advising, as it was used in the 1980's, the researcher reviewed perceptions of academic advising by experts. Winston et al. (1982) defined the task of academic advising as: . . . a systematic process based on a close student-advisor relationship intended to aid students in achieving educational and personal goals through the utilization of the full range of institutional and community resources. It is a crucial higher education function that requires the involvement of expertise of both academic faculty and students affairs professionals, (p. 8 ) Hardee (1970) stated that academic advising was: An activity dispatched by members of teaching faculty and directed toward assisting students w ith their educational, vocational, and personal concerns at a defined level of competence, (p. 9) A narrow definition of the task of academic advising came from Packwood (1977) w hen he wrote that academic advising was: . . . a choice of specific courses to meet requirem ents. . . Advisement may also include helping w ith the choice of curricula and plans for making adequate programs within the course of study. Its major concern is w ith educational programming, (p. 469) DeLisle (1965) defined academic advising as: . . . an educational experience, representing both a dynamic, continuing process and relationship. Thereby, a student and interested, capable members of the staff and faculty are engaged in a common p u rsu it. . . that the student may realize 26 his educational and career goals according to his/her unique capabilities, (p. 169) DeLisle (1965) also w rote that academic advising is: . . . a process of mediation between the students and the resources of an institution to the end that the student makes optimal progress toward the goals of liberal and professional education. . . Therefore, academic advising involves assisting students in (a) assessment of his own abilities, interests, and aspirations, (b) acquiring information about courses, curriculum, regulations, and procedures, (c) interpreting the nature of goals of undergraduate (liberal and professional) education, (d) planning his total four year program, (e) planning a career, (f) locating resources of the university. . . will assist the student in researching this career goals, (pp. 117-118) After reviewing the literature, it was clear that defining academic advising depended on who was discussing academic advisement. The range of definitions was endless, either simple or complex, and one could be found to fit any need. Thus, the process of defining academic advisement was still in flux and being researched. The Academic Advisor's Responsibilities Through the years, the responsibility of the college academic advisor had changed to meet the needs of an ever changing student population. In the 1980‘s, academic advising was beginning to address the need to advise the “total" student and, thus, become responsible for how the student developed beyond the class. According to Stickle (1982) in the journal of College Student Personnel, there are at least five functions that compose the advisor's job: 27 ( 1) the advisor assists the student in effecting a program of study consistent w ith the student's interest and needs; ( 2 ) the advisor provides the student w ith adequate information on courses being offered, regulations, and administrative procedures to assist students with class scheduling' (3 ) the advisor assists the student w ith academic concerns such as how to take a test, study skills, motivation, and reading comprehension; (4) the advisor becomes aware of the student's needs, motives, purposes, and expectations and assists the student with such personal problems as college adjustment and selfunderstanding; (3 ) the advisor provides the opportunity and encouragement for each student to develop long-term professional strategies by exploring occupational and graduate school alternatives. According to Henggeler (1980), one ideal of the responsibility of the academic advisor w as to look at alternative ways of providing students w ith the skills, attitudes, and resources necessary to help them function successfully in the educational environment. The researcher found a strong indication that a division existed in the literature between the responsibility of the academic or faculty advisors and personnel or professional counseling specialists toward the role each played in advising students. As early as the late 1950's and early 1960's, the role and responsibility of faculty advisors and personnel specialists was being debated. Nonnamaker (1939) indicated that the the roles and responsibilities of faculty advisors and personnel specialists were not clearly defined, as they pertained to advising students. Both faculty advisors and personnel specialists had entered the debate. Nonnamaker (1939) observed that some faculty members did not agree with the personnel specialists' approach of advising students in many diverse directions while personnel 28 specialists argued that faculty advisors w ere not equipped to genuinely assist students w ith personal problems. Nonnamaker (1959) stated that the differences between the two groups resulted in the fact t h a t .. services are duplicated, advice is controversial and the student is either confused or forgotten.. (p. 13) DeLisle (1965) felt that a distinction between faculty advising and psychological counseling needed to be made: In academic advising, the student is seeking information and explanations in contacts that are more limited and immediate. The area of discussion relates to subject matter, academic requirem ents or intellectual problems as these apply to the individual student in his unique capacities. Related concerns or ramifications are included though the faculty academic advisor may make use of other resources to which he refers the student. By contrast, psychological and vocational counseling represents a longer process at a deeper level of involvement focusing around feelings and attitudes rather than on facts and information. Thus, it is not a question of w hether to use faculty advisors or professional counselors, but rather in what combination and at what levels, (p. 1- 2 ) Teague and Grites (1980) pointed out that: Although student personnel professionals have generated improvements in the academic areas th at affect the academic advising process through admission counseling, orientation programs, freshm an seminars, career development centers, and learning laboratories, the faculty cannot be overlooked or discarded. Rather, cooperative efforts between the faculty and student personnel staffs need to be expanded. Mutual expertise must be recognized and used for the betterm ent of the total institution, (p. 41) It was clear from the literature that the academic advisement of students was not the responsibility of one group nor was academic advisement easy to detail. Rather, it was overwhelmingly obvious that 29 academic advising was in a transitional stage and new directions and responsibilities for faculty advisors, personnel specialists, and institutions w ere being debated and defined. The Faculty Advisor in Search of Excellence Much had been w ritten about excellence in the 1980's. Books w ere w ritten about searching for excellence in corporations, business managers, and others. The same held true for faculty advisors and their search for excellence in student advising. The position of the faculty advisor in student advising was clearly pointed out by Winston et al. (1982) "Faculty members have, and continue to be prim ary movers in academic advising delivery systems", (p. 41) In the same report Corstenen (1982) stated t h a t " ... 79 percent of all advising programs are currently maintained by the faculty". (p. 412) The role and value of the faculty advisor was further supported by Donk and Oetting (1968) who believed that: One rationale for assigning the advisor to this role is usually that of providing the student w ith a faculty contact, a person he can go to if he encounters difficulties, and who can provide guidance in planning his academic program and career, (p. 400) Hardee (1970) stated that: The advisor is more than an information and traffic officer. He conveys to the student a philosophy of contemporary education, a rational base for the consideration of problems and suggests plans of action in which he may move. (p. 21 ) Experts began to report that in order for faculty members to fulfill the role of academic advisor, they would need to be more than faculty who met 30 w ith students. In order to be excellent at advising students, faculty members would have to develop more skill and attain more knowledge in the areas concerning students. Hardee (1970) stated that: The adviser should have considerable knowledge of the combined educational offering - - the total of available classes, extra classes, clinic, laboratory, library, and field experiences. The adviser should have comprehensive knowledge of the curriculum . . . b e . . . familar with campus in its varied structural parts, should recognize the prevailing climate of learning on campus, and should have acq u ired . . . adequate skills for communicating with various students in varying subcultures in authentic, appropriate, and meaningful ways. (p. 11 ) To insure excellence in academic advising from faculty members, Bostaph and Moore (1980) recommended that in-service training opportunities be afforded both new and long-time faculty members engaged in academic advising. Stickle (1982) suggessed that to improve the level of excellence in academic advising from faculty members an evaluation of the advisement process should be carried out. Academic advising researchers also w ere concerned about the importance placed on the practice of academic advising from the institution. Teague and Grites (1980) indicated that if academic advising were an im portant aspect of a faculty member's duty, then it should be reflected in the collective bargaining agreements and contracts. Stickle (1982) stated that "Viewing advising as an added burden w here one is not compensated may account for some of the poor functioning." (p. 264) While speaking to the National meeting ofg Academic Affairs Administrators, Dr. Francis Lazarus (1984) clearly 31 stated the key roots to humane advising as: 1. Advisors must be knowledgeable. Advisors are teachers. 2. Students deserve the best advisors can give, even if a student is the 42nd person an advisor has worked with in a particular day. 3. Advisors should teach students standards; they should be examples for students. 4. Advisors should have confidence that each one of their students can achieve at some level and should help student achieve that level. 5. Advisors should be willing to listen to their students and be open to new ideas. 6 . Advisors should teach problem solving; they should help students seek solutions to problems. An assessment of the attitudes of academic advising researchers toward faculty member participation in academic advisement, indicated a strong desire for excellence and method achieving consistant and quality student academic advising. Professional Counselors as Academic Advisors The trend of using professional personnel specialists or professional counselors was becoming more and more acceptable in the 1970's and 1980's. The literature agreed on the premise that faculty members should perform academic advising, yet more and more educators believed that it was appropriate for professional counselors or personnel specialists to conduct academic advisement. 32 Packwood (1977) reported that it was impossible for faculty members to know all about curricular changes, student needs, and other factors influencing academic advisement, while professional counselors were trained to deal with these changes and demands. Packwood (1977) pointed out that counselors usually acquired interpersonal skills that allowed for development of strong student contacts. Dameron and Wolf (1974) supported the notion that professional counselors should assume the responsibility of academic advisement because: 1. It is felt th at there is no substitute for training, experience, and commitment. These are credentials. . . that trained guidance personnel possess. . . to a greater degree, in relation to developmental student academic advising, than do faculty m em bers. . . 2. Economically, the cost of using faculty members for implementing program choice, course choice,. . . course scheduling appears to be considerable if instructional staff members are given released time for such activities. 3. Faculty knowledge of current trends in the competitive employment m arket may be limited by individual subject field interest and concentration, whereas guidance personnel, trained and motivated to maintain current and comprehensive knowldege of these trends as a prim ary part of their job, should be more knowledgeable in this area. 4. Due in part to the lack of administrative structure to provide such coordination, overall coordination of academic advisement efforts were usually lacking in faculty-facilitated programs, (p. 471) The movement toward professional counselors doing academic advisement had become acceptable. To some, professional counselors were preferable to faculty members. The researcher discovered the literature was just beginning to address this issue. Kev Elements That Make Academic Advising Effective Although there was debate between who should be performing academic advisement, no such debate occured about w hat factors made for effective academic advising. In 1970 and 1980, clearly, academic advising was shifting toward addressing the “total" student. In the keynote address to the Academic Affairs Administrators conference, Dr. Francis Lazarus (1984) shared the following points: 1. Academic advisors need to have a desire for action; advisors should use intrusive advising. Contact your students by phone or letter. 2. Allow many styles among advisors. 3. know your students. 4. Treat students like w hat they can become; help students move forward. Advising is teaching. 3. Advisors should know their institution's mission. 6. Get involved with a student's real life; education is more than academics. 7. Make the w ay clear for students but help them know life is complex; let them know that sometimes following a path is not easy. 8. Advisers teach life; they integrate the intellectual, emotional, and social development of the students. Encourage students to run their lives. 34 DeLisle (1965) was more definitive w hen identifying w hat composed an effective academic advising program: . . . the academic advisor should be interested and effective in his role as defined by institutional policy. . . . be willing to prepare himself for his assignment and continue to learn through meetings with other advisors, staff from special services, consultation w ith others, and the use materials and manuals provided. The preparation should include familarity with: ( 1) the educational goals of the university: (2 ) appropriate use of information about students; (3 ) approaches to interviewing to help students learn to make decisions and deal w ith daily problems; (4) the relationship of motivational, social and emotional factors or conflict to educational goals, the resources available to students who need special assistance ...; and (5 ) special programs for various categories of students, (p. 115) The academic advisement process was more than a faculty member meeting with a student. It was a variety of advising techniques being applied to given situtations. To be an effective advisor, certain techniques w ere used. As early as the late 1950's, Shepard (1955) had recommended th at the one-on-one advising relationship was crucial to letting the student develop his/her personal qualities. Shepard (1955) also recommended that an effective advisor have a diverse undestanding of the total student, including his/her interests, needs, abilities, values, and goals. Many of the techniques w ere part of the "developmental" approach to advising. Mash (1978) observed that: A developmental approach to academic advising must go well beyond the interpretation of degree requirem ents and course registration. There must be a context w ithin which these items fit, and th at context needs to be developed by the student working w ith an adviser, (p. 34) 35 The "developmental" approach was based on long range planning and a close student - advisor relationship that w ent beyond classes and graudation requirements. Even with interested faculty and effective advisement programs other factors w ere involved in producing effective advising. Effective academic advising was more than an effective faculty advisement effort. The institution also had a role to play. Institutional commitment, support, and direction was of equal importance. Bostaph and Moore (1980) observed: To establish a high degree of commitment to the academic advising process, university and school administrators in higher level positions must become cognizant not only of the educational value of advising but of the role advising plays in the retention of students and in the promotion of the school's image to prospective students. . . . administrators might look more closely at instituting a three-fold management operation for actualizing the role of advising in their own particuplar schools through an adequate reward system, available inservice training programs, and a developmental approach to advising... (p. 47) Hofman (1974) identified the following standards for effective collegelevel advising programs: 1. The num ber of potential advisees should be established. 2. Students' needs must be clarified. Students attending public universities may have different needs than those attending private or highly selective schools. 3. Top-level administrators and deparm ent chairs must dem onstrate their interest in the program by providing constant encouragement to the advisers. 4. Faculty should receive appropriate compensation for their advisement functions. 36 5. When rank, salary, and other benefits are reviewed, the evaluation of faculty members' advising should be considered. 6. An understanding of the organization of the advisement program, w ith delineation of lines of authority and channels of communication, must be clear to all concerned. 7. Faculty members selected to participate in the advisement program must want to be a faculty adviser. 8. Advisement responsibilities must be clearly defined. 9. The need for faculty to perform clerical duties should be minimized. 10. Faculty advisers should be encouraged to improve their advisement performance through access to and participation in in-service training programs. 11. The limitations of the program should be explained and understood. 12. The advising must allow for changing campuses, students, curricula, etc.. 13. Evaluation must be on-going. Crockett (1978) pointed to institutional commitment of a clear, well developed and understood advisement program as the number one factor to producing effective advisement w hen he sta te d " ... the ultimate success of any advising program is based largely upon a common understanding of its purposes and mechanics. . . “. (p. 31) Of course, no academic advisement effort can be effective, unless the students themselves contribute. Hallberg (1964) advised that: . . . to revitalize the advising programs in our large college and universities. . . advising programs must keep step by allowing students to take upon themsleves a great responsibility for their own programming... (p. 117) 37 From the literature it was apparent that effective advisement programs w ere a combination of advisor, institution and student. The researcher found that effective advisement was changing and had become more than scheduling classes. In the 1980's, academic advisement was student advisement in the truest sense. Key Student Needs of Academic Advising Because academic advising was more student based, the researcher searched the literature for information about the causes for a need for academic advising and the basic needs of students that had to be included in academic advising. Academic advisement had traditionally been little more than registering students, assigning classes, and insuring graduation requirem ents w ere met by students. But with the tremedous influx of students beginning in the mid-1960's, attrition became a problem. The literature had abundant documentation of the rate of attrition. Iffert (1957) indicated th at 40 percent of entering freshm an never graduated. Cope and Hannah stated that: In the 1970's more than 15 million men and women are entering nearly 3000 colleges and universities, and ag a in . . . about half are likely to graduate on schedule and between five and six million will never earn degrees, (p. 1) Pantages and Creedon (1978) concluded that: For every ten students who enter college in the United States, only four will graduate from that college four years later. One more will eventually graduate . . . at some point . . . (p. 49) Studies conducted by the American Council on Education verify the the 45 - 60 percent rate of national graduation from college within four years, (see Table I) TABLE 1. Graduation Rate Within Four Years From Any College Entering Class Graduation Rate 1961 1967 1968 53 x 57 X 53 X The researcher found that attrition was identified as a major problem by those in the field. The literature was overwhelming w ith statistical evidence that attrition was a problem and that it was a student problem that was related to advisement. The advising needs of students influenced attrition rates. The literature identified student needs in both academic as well as more practical terms. Burke (1981) reported that the students' greatest needs were involved in those areas th at would provide guidance to the student's academic, career, and life goals. In the same study, Burke (1981) found that students viewed the college experience as partly career preparation, thus they needed more information from which to make career and vocational decisions. Hardee (1961) listed the following issues that students might discuss with their faculty advisor: 1. long-range occupational or vocational plans; 2 . immedicate occupational or educational plans; 3. selection of a program of study; 4. evaluation of abilities, aptitudes, skills, personality traits; 5 . evaluation of progress in particular course work; 6. assistance in how-to-study; 7. equalization of course load; 8. remedial or tutorial assistance; 9. financial aid; 10. personal adjustment; 11. health; 12. eitra-class activities; 13- placement; and 14. ethical behavior. (p. 39) Donk and Oetting (1968) indentified two areas w here students need advice: ( 1) academic requirem ents and regulations and (2 ) curricula, majors, courses, and career opportunities. Brady, as quoted in Burke (1981), observed that: . . . students expressed needs centered around ( 1) obtaining accurate information, ( 2 ) help in achieving (rather than setting) goals, (3) access to varied referral resources, and (4) a desire for direct, clear, informed, open-minded, individualized and trusting communication, w ith their adviser, (p. 37) The literature review made it apparent that student needs go beyond the classroom and the textbooks. It also was obvious that students require advise on career opportunities, university procedures, and a variety personal concerns. The student needs w ere demanding a more active and accurate advisement process, if attrition was going to be minimized. 40 Assessing Academic Advising in the 1980 s In some cases, college and university academic advising systems w ere failing. Some research suggested the fault was w ith the students themselves, others indicated the advising systems w ere inadequate. Research also cited academic advising problems including: (1) a lack of proper high school preparation and parental support; (2 ) poor orientation and training for advisors; and ( 3 ) the students' lack of knowledge and attitudes toward the academic advising resources. (Wendel. 1977 and Amprey. 1971) An ERIC search of the literature and extensive manual research indicated a significant drop in the amount of student attrition information since the late 1970's. However, the literature continued to cite lack of awareness of academic advising services as a major concern. Researchers often reported the students' awareness of the student personnel programs available at their college w as remarkably low. A study by Hughes (1973) showed that fewer that 32 percent of students surveyed at one college stated they had used the advising service offered by their college, (p. 22 ) The research indicated the problem was not limited to domestic students. Of the foreign students polled at one university by Kajornsin (1979): 43.2% of a sample did not know about academic counseling 27.9% knew very little 26.9% (p. 96) knew w hat it was An explanation was not provided as to w hy the results w ere over 100%. 41 Stahl (1971) conducted a study of 300 freshm en and found that generally freshm en w ere aware of student personnel programs, but w ere not aware of the specific functions provided by the services, nor the role of the student personnel worker, (p. 33 ) This national figure was reflected in the Michigan State University community. Gomez' (1979) study of 393 full-time undergraduate students enrolled w inter term , 1979, at Michigan State University showed that they w ere not familiar w ith existing functions of the counseling center. Gomez also found t h a t : 1. On-campus students are more aware of the counseling center than off-campus students. 2. Students said that the advising w as poor. 3. Quality of advising according to students is impersonal and understaffed. 4. Students said that the advising service was not publicized enough. (p. 187) Gomez (1979) stated that: As a former university counselor, this researcher was not surprised at the lack of knowledge of the various functions of the undergraduate counseling center expressed by students . . . (p. 197) One of Gomez' suggestions to increase awareness w as to distribute information about the availability of services more effectively—more publicity. Green Bay experimented w ith different approaches to reach counselors. An experimental approach was used in the study by Gordon B. Stein, Chairman of the Office of Academic Advising, and Henry A. Spille, Assistant Dean for Academic Assistance Programs (1974), both from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. "Outreach Experimentation" was developed at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay in order to increase students' awareness of existing programs. First, experimentation with a wide variety of approaches was used. Using information students supplied at registration, letters were sent asking them to come to the advising/counseling office. Posters and signs in strategic locations failed. Because of this failure in approach, the advising service was taken out of the advising office. Stein and Spille (1974) believed that advisors needed to be still more visible and accessible to larger numbers of students. Since students wouldn't come to the advisors they decided to take the counselors to the students which produced some interesting results. Advising tables w ere placed in the school corridors. To find strategic placement for the tables, traffic patterns in the corridors w ere observed. Then tables w ere placed in indentations, out of the flow of traffic where students could easily step aside and voice their concerns. Very bright posters with clever statem ents were used to attract the interest of students. This physically reversed the role of the student going to the advisor's office. The advisor was now functioning in the students' familiar environment. The result of the "Outreach Experimentation" showed t h a t : 1. a. Advisors themselves need security to change their environm ent from their v ery personal offices to the students' own everyday environment. b. Advisors felt guilty when no students w ere coming to the tables for help. Stein and Spille called this the Gompulsive Puritan Ethic: An advisor in full-view of the public doing nothing. 43 c. time. Some advisors panic because of too many students at one 2. The num ber of appointments in advisors' offices has more than doubled since the beginning of the program. The contacts at the tables generally lead to later appointments. 3. Bulletin boards and posters reminded students of critical concerns; drop deadlines, academic rule changes and other items someone identifies as suffering from a lack of awareness. 4. Advisors have become better known. 3. Outreach ideas have continued to proliferate. Lack of communication attributed to deficient advising among advisors. One reason may be that authors w ere largely writing for their colleagues in specialized journals and few were directing their messages and findings to the general body of educators. During a class presentation on the advisor/student relationship. Dr. Nonamaker stated: To advise you must communicate, th at communication must be continuous. Students who feel that their advisor has their best interests at heart will interpret nearly everything he/she does constructively. Were the student personnel programs more responsive to the majority of the student body, and do these services neglect the feelings of the minority element of the student body? Research indicated the attitudes of the students provided these services reflect these biases. J. L. Amprey, Jr. and A. C. F. Gilbert (1971), conducted a study to compare the attitudes of the black students with those of predominantly white student populated campuses. The study was done to determine if on either type of campus the attitudes of the majority body were more favorable. On the predominantly w hite campus, white students had a more favorable attitude about 44 counseling services than black students. However, white students also had a more favorable attitude about counseling services w hen they were from predominantly black student populated campuses. Related results were: 49.7 X of the respondents agreed that they would not hesitate to use the counseling services available to them 31.2 % said they could not be certain. 19.1 %would not use the counseling services available to them. When asked if they would recommend the service to a friend the response was: 43.2 X said yes 43.6 X w ere uncertain 11.2X said no As for vocational and educational problems, 71.4 percent said they would seek help in choosing courses to prepare for a job. However, 84.6 percent indicated they would seek help concerning information on curriculum offerings. In an independent study. Amprey’s (1971) study indicated that student perceptions of advisors cuts across the ethnic structure. Amprey's major finding was th at all students regardless of race, who did not visit the counseling centers during a semester, evaluated the services to be significantly lower than students who did visit the centers. According to Wendel (1977) one of the most important concerns lies not w ith the faculty advisor but with the ' system." Wendel reported on a study of faculty members in five state colleges and universities which found the estimated time spent in various functions by faculty members was between 30.4 and 32.9 hours per week. From 48 to 66 percent of this time 45 was spent in teaching (24.6-34 hours per week), and student advising took another 3.6 to 4.8 hours per week of the instructors' time. Generally, faculty members w ere told they must teach, research, and w rite. Often, the faculty member advisors work at low efficiency because of these overloaded work schedules. Further, the demanding faculty member schedule made it difficult for the faculty members to keep up w ith all the complex and constantly changing university policies and procedures. Wendel (1977) stated that: It does not take long to discover the discontentment felt by students, faculty, and administrators about the academic advising procedure. Students fail to meet requirem ents because of heavy advising loads and lack of information. (p. 82-84) Under the normal college system, faculty members simply did not have the time to pay adequate attention to academic advising. Therefore, student advisement centers were one answer to meeting the needs of the college students. Some colleges had moved toward the use of academic advisors separate from the faculty members as part-tim e advisors. It was important these separate advisors w ere cognizant of their responsibilities in helping the student feel comfortable and "at home" in h is/h er college major environment. Failure to assist students often caused them to either seek a different college, to change universities or to drop out of the system completely. The researcher found that answers to the questions, "who should advise?", "what is advising?", "what the student needed advisement about?", and "what caused attrition?" were all well documented. Yet, no dear, 46 consistent concept of how to to respond to the above questions was apparent in the documentation. In 1988. did insitutions have an answer to the advisement dilemma? According to Burke (1981) and Ramist (1981) advisement programs must be well developed, have institutional commitment, and provide for in-service training for all advisors. These fundamental components for effective academic advising w ere found throughout all the literature and it was generally agreed upon that if followed would drastically improve advisement. The rate of attrition, as reported in the review of literature, varies from institution to institution. Yet, overall the rate of attrition was viewed as too high and not acceptable by both the institutions themselves as well as the professionals serving the students. SUMMARY The literature review provided a solid foundation for the researcher. It was clear that the debate over who should do academic advising, w hat should constitute academic advisement, and w hat w ere the appropriate responsibilities for academic advisors, was just beginning. The literature review made it clear that much research was still needed before clarification of the academic advisement issues could occur. CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH PROCEDURES Introduction This section of the study was designed to im part to the reader those steps that w ere accomplished in preparation for the implementation of data collection, as well as an explanation of the established procedures for data analyses. These steps included: (1) Selection of the Population, (2) Development and Refinement of the Instrument, (3) Establishing Procedures for the Collection of Data, and (3) Procedures for the Analyses of Data. Selection of the Population The literature review for this study indicated th at an analysis of practicing academic advisors ought to reveal something about their perceptions of academic advising and advising techniques. Further, there is evidence th at an effective method for such an analysis would be to examine those performing college academic advising for all areas of academic emphasis. For this purpose a group of practicing academic advisors was selected. The population of this study consisted of full-time and part-tim e undergraduate academic advisors at Michigan State University. To be included in the population, the academic advisor must have been part of the group of academic advisors who performed undergraduate academic advising during the 1985-86 academic year. A list of all Michigan State University undergraduate academic advisors was obtained from the Office of the Registrar. A total of 1109 advisors were indentified as undergraduate academic advisors for the 1985-86 academic year. Of that total, 10 percent 47 48 was selected at random to compose the sample group. The sample group is categorized in Table 2 and Table 3. Table 2 indicated that the largest num ber of academic advisors in the sample population w ere in natural science and Lyman Briggs, 13.6 percent, and agriculture and natural resources, 14.3 percent, and the lowest number of academic advisors w ere in social science and communications and James Madison, 3.2 percent. TABLE 2 Sample Population Undergraduate Academic Advising on Campus by College College Number of Advisors in Sample Population Agriculture & Natural Resources Arts & Letters Business Education Engineering Human Ecology Medicine James Madison Natural Science & Lyman Briggs Social Science & Communications University College total Percent of Advisors in Sample Population 11 6 6 9 8 5 7 4 14.3% 7.8% 7.8% 11.7% 10.4% 6.5% 9.1% 5.2% 12 15.6% 4 5 77 5.2% 6.5% 100.0% 49 TABLE 3 Sample Population Personal Background Characteristic Number of Advisors in Sample Population Percent of Advisors in Sample Population Age: 26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-60 61-65 66-70 Over 70 Unknown 1 8 16 10 11 6 12 7 4 1 1 1.3% 10.5% 21.1% 13.2% 14.5% 7.9% 15.8% 9.2% 5.3% 1.3% 1.3% Sex: 49 28 63.6% 36.4% Race White Black Asian 71 4 2 92.2% 5.2% 2.6% Job Gassification Specialist Faculty Other 10 66 1 13.0% 85.7% 1.3% 10 13.0% 37 28 2 48.1% 36.4% 2.6% Male Female Responsibility Advisor only Advising and Teaching Other Unknown 50 Table 3 indicated th at the sample population was predominately in the middle age groups (under 30 - 1.3 percent and over 60 - 6.9 percent); distributed nearly two to one among males to females (male 6 3 .6 percent and female 36.4 percent); predominately white (92.2 percent); composed mainly of faculty (85.7 percent); and with a relatively small percentage of full-time advisors (13 percent). Development and Refinement of the Instrum ent One survey instrum ent was developed for the academic advisors in the sample population. The instrum ent was constructed after eitensive review of relevant literature and consultation w ith members of the Michigan State University academic advising staff, members of the Michigan State University Supportive Services Center, the researcher's major professor, members of a professional review panel, and members of the researcher's Doctoral Committee. The following procedure was used to improve, clarify, validate, and establish the reliability of the instrument: (1) review of literature; (2) selection of a professional review panel; and (3) pilot test w ith academic advisors of Michigan State University. The professional review panel for the survey instrum ent consisted of two professional administrators from Michigan State University and three Assistant Deans from colleges within the University (see Appendix I). The instrument was pilot tested with the five experienced members of the review panel. Endorsement for this instrum ent was obtained from Dr. Henry E. Bredeck. Chairman of University Committee on Research Involving Human Subjects. Joint letters of endorsement, validation and approval of the Instrum ent came from a highly qualified jury that consisted of Dr. John E. Kraeer, Academic Specialist of the College of Business; Dr. Robert Martin, Coordinator of Student Affairs Office, College of Education; Dr. George Van Dussen, Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering; Dr. David Kragt, Assistant Dean of the College of Communication; and Dr. Lonnie Eiland, Assistant Dean of the University Undergraduate Program at Michigan State University. Each juror examined the instrum ent and endorsed the questionaire. A final draft of the survey instrum ent was then developed w ith input from those who reviewed the instrument. It was determined that the following types of information should be collected: 1. Background and personal information. (a) Sex (b)Race (c) Academic rank (d) Job classification (e) Area of responsibility (f) Total years of advising experience (g) Number of advisees assigned (h) Highest degree presently held (i) College advising assignment (j) Age (2) Academic Advisors’ Perceptions: Factors That Impact Students' Decisions to Remain in College (a) High School Influence (b) Parental Influence (c) Student Personal/Environmental Influence (3) Michgian State University Advising System (a) Academic Advising Functions (b) Evaluation of Academic Advising at Michigan State University (4) Academic Advisors' Perceptions The final survey instrum ent consisted of 91 questions broken down into five sections with 88 questions and 3 open-ended items (See Appendix II). Establishing Procedures of Data Collection In collecting the data for the study, it was determined to use an oncampus mailing of the survey instrum ent to the sample population of 111 Michigan State University undergraduate academic advisors. A letter of introduction was enclosed (see Appendix III). A second mailing was made to those who did not respond (see Appendix IV). Those in the sample who did not respond by the deadline date in the second mailing w ere contacted by telephone for follow-up purposes. The collection techniques used in this study allowed the researcher to obtain responses and accurate information from each academic advisor. They were concise and complete and allowed the researcher to gather data that allowed for a complete analysis. After the population was chosen, instrum ent developed, and the procedures finalized for the collection of the data, the instrum ent was mailed to the 111 selected academic advisors. After contacting all 111 academic advisors in the sample by mail, those who did not respond w ere mailed a follow-up letter and another survey instrum ent and a follow-up phone call reminder. The sample population size that responded to the survey was 77. The 21 blank responses w ere due to several unexpected circumstances. Academic advisors had been assigned other college duties. Thus, for some faculty members academic advising was no longer a function of their university responsibilities. Some academic advisors had left the university. Some members of the academic advising staff in the original sample had passed away. Finally, some academic advisors had retired from the university. The researcher was able to collect accurate and complete surveys from 77 members of the university undergraduate academic advising staff. 73 percent of responses from those in the original random sample who w ere serving as an academic advisor w hen the survey was mailed. 54 Collection of the Data The very accurate and complete records of Michigan State University provided the researcher w ith a current phone number, campus address, and university position for each member of the sample population. It was then possible to prepare Table 4 which indicates the advisement status of each member of the sample population for the 1985-86 academic year. Tables 5.6, and 7 show the advising experience of the academic advisors, the number of advisees assigned to each academic advisor, and the highest degree held by academic advisors as of the 1985-86 academic year. Over Ninety-three percent of the sample population of academic advisors had more than a Bachelor's degree, forty-seven percent of the sample population had tw enty or less advisees assigned to them, and more than fifty-seven percent of the sample population had nine or more years of experience. 55 Table 4 Curricular Code of Undergraduate Advisors in Sample Population Curricular Coded Area Number of Advisors in Sample Population Linguistics, Orientation Arts & Letters Music Nursing James Madison College Social Science Psychology Criminal Justice Human Medicine Osteopathic Medicine No-Preference Agriculture-Undergraduate HRI General Business A Business Business Administration Marketing A Transportation Engineering Mechanical Engineering Engineering Sciences Engineering Arts Human Ecology Natural Science Biochemistry Biological Sciences Preveterinary Education Teacher Education Health Education Counseling Communication 1 4 1 2 4 1 1 1 1 3 5 11 2 2 1 1 2 2 3 1 5 8 1 3 1 6 1 1 1 1 Percent of Advisors in Sample Population 1.3% 5.2% 1.3% 2.6% 5.2% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3% 3.9% 6.5% 14.3% 2.6% 2.6% 1.3% 1.3% 2.6% 2.6% 3.9% 1.3% 6.5% 10.4% 1.3% 3.9% 1.3% 7.8% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3% 1.3% 56 TABLE 5 Sample Populaton Years of Undergraduate Advising Experience Experience Number of Advisors in Sample Population less than 1 year 1-2 years 3-4 years 5-6 years 7-8 years 9-10 years 11-12 years 13 + years 5 7 8 8 5 6 6 32 Percent of Advisors in Sample Population 6.5% 9.1% 10.4% 10.4% 6.5% 7.8% 7.8% 41.6% TABLE 6 Sample Population Number of Advisees Assigned to Academic Advisor Advisees 1-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 over 50 unknown Number of Advisors in Sample Population 14 23 6 2 5 22 5 Percent of Advisors in Sample Population 18.2% 29.9% 7.8% 2.6% 6.5% 28.6% 6.5% 57 TABLE 7 Sample Population Highest Degree Held as of the 1985-86 Academic Year Degree Held B.A. or B.S M.A. or M.S Ed. Specialist Ph. D or ED. D Post Doctorate other unknown Number of Advisors in Percent of Advisors in 5 11 1 48 4 6 2 6.5% 14.3% 1.3% 62.3% 5.3% 7.9% 2.6% Procedures for Treatment of the Data The classification of research data falls into four categories: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. The category and population variables dictate the general group of analytical tools to be used to analyze data. The researcher decided to use descriptive statistics because the data in this study was nominal and ordinal. (Weiss and Hassett, 1982) The personal information included: age, sei, race, job classification, area of responsibility, years of advising experience, number of advisees, highest degree presently held, and college. The perception of the factors influencing a student's ability to sustain their educational experience included: high school influence, parental influence, and student personal/environmental influence. To determine the advisors' perceptions of the tasks included in the academic advising function performed at Michigan State University, the interviewees w ere asked to respond with either a "should be fulfilled" or "is now being fulfilled" choice. These 58 responses w ere evaluated using a weighted scale w ith a range from 0 being “not important", 1-2 being "somewhat important", 3-4 being “important" and 5 being "very important". The researcher used corresponding frequencies and percentages, chisquare. and an one-way Anova to look into the comparisons between academic advisors and their perceptions of academic advising. Independent variables such as age. se i, race, job classification, area of responsibility, years of advising, highest degree held, college, and numbers of advisees w ere employed in this analysis. The following example may clarify the intended analysis: not important Race Minority 2 33% Non-minority 30 30% somewhat important 1 0 16.6% 0% important very important 0 0% 13 23% 3 30% 13 23% Chi-Sqaure 4.39318 significance .8200 The chi-square and one-w ay anova analysis would determine if any relationship existed betw een the personal backgrounds of the academic advisors and their perception of advisement responsibilities. 59 Summary This section of the study was designed to set forth the research procedures used by the researcher. The chapter is divided into seven sub­ sections. These are: (1) Introduction, (2) Selection of the Population, (3) Development and Refinement of the Instrum ent, (4) Establishing Procedures for the Collection of Data, (5) Collection of Data, (6) Procedures for the Analysis of Data, and (7) Summary. A survey instrum ent was developed and used which primarily sought to gather personal, factors influencing student attrition, advising responsibility, and perceptions of the Michigan State University advisement system (see Appendix II). These data w ere classified as primarily second order or ordinal. Thus, statistical tools used were descriptive. Percentages, frequencies, one-way anova, and chi-square w ere used to tabulate and anaylze the findings. Chapter Four PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS OF DATA This chapter represents the results of the study in term s of responses to questions which w ere asked the sample population of undergraduate academic advisors and records of advisement assignments from Michigan State University. Data concerning the perceptions of undergraduate academic advisors at Michigan State University w ere presented in this chapter in term s of the study's objectives. Emphasis was given to their perception of undergraduate academic advising responsibilities; their perception of factors th at influence student development; and their perception of the role of the academic advisement system. For clarity, the chapter was divided into two sections. These are: A. Michigan State University Undergraduate Academic Advisor Background Information B. Analysis of Data Michigan State University Undergraduate Academic Advisor Background Information This section w as presented to provide some general information about the respondents. The sample population was composed of undergradaute academic advising representatives from all eleven Colleges within Michigan State University. The purpose of this section is to clarify the status of the undergraduate academic advisors who w ere selected from random and w ere members of the 1985-86 undergraduate academic advising staff at Michigan State University. Table 8 shows the age status of undergraduate academic advising of the sample population and that of the entire Michigan State University Academic faculty and staff. In the sample population, 33 percent of 60 61 undergraduate academic advisors w ere age 40 or under. 35 percent w ere between the ages of 41 and 55. and 32 percent w ere over 55 years of age. In comparison. 42 percent of the faculty and staff w ere age 40 or under. 41 percent of the faculty and staff w ere between the ages 41 and 55. and 17 percent w ere over 55 years of age. Thus, it can be seen that the 77 undergraduate academic advisors, who w ere members of the sample population, w ere distributed among the three groups in about the same ratio as expected when compared to the entire Michgan State Univeristy and staff. No significant differences w ere found between the status of the undergraduate academic advisors according to age and the entire Michigan State Academic faculty and staff. TABLE 8 Age Status of Undergraduate Academic Advisors of the Sample Population as Compared to Age Status of the Michigan State University Academic Faculty and Staff Age Number Sample Univeristy 26-30 1 321 8 629 31-35 720 36-40 16 40 & under 1670 25 Percentage Sample University 8 1.3 16 10.5 21.1 18 42 32.9 10 11 6 27 658 545 445 1648 13.2 14.5 7.9 35.5 56-60 12 7 61-65 66-70 4 70 & over 1 353 226 96 8 158 9.2 5.3 13 683 31.6 41-45 46-30 51-55 41 to 55 56 & over 24 16 14 11 41 9 6 1.8 .2 17 62 The percentage of male and female undergraduate academic advisors in the sample population and the Michigan State University Academic faculty and staff is shown in Table 9. It can be seen that the 77 undergraduate academic advisors w ere distributed in about the same ratio as males and females w ere distributed among the Michigan State University 1985-86 Academic faculty and staff. TABLE 9 Sexual Status of the Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population as Compared to Sexual Status of Michigan State University Academic Faculty and Staff Sex of Undergraduate Number Percentage Academic Advisors Sample University Sample University Males Females 49 28 2842 1159 63 j6 36.4 71 29 The percentage of minority and non-minorities in the sample population of undergraduate academic advisors and the academic faculty and staff of Michigan State University is shown in Table 10. The percentage of minority to non-minority undergraduate academic advisors in the sample population was representative of the Michigan State University faculty in 1985-86. 63 TABLE 10 Racial Status of Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population as Compared to Racial Status of the Michigan State University Academic Faculty and Staff Racial Status Non-minority Number Percentage Sample University Sample University 71 3531 92.2 88 6 470 7.8 12 Minority Table 11 indicates th at 13 percent of the advisors in the sample population had responsibilities in advisement only compared to three percent of the Michigan State University Academic Advisors w ith advising responsibilities only. TABLE 11 Areas of Responsibility of Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population Compared to the Area's of Responsibility of All Michigan State University Undergraduate Academic Advisors Area's of Responsibility Number Percentage Sample MSU Sample MSU Advisor only 10 34 13.0 3.1 Advisor - Teaching 37 1077 48.1 96.8 Advisor - Other Duties 40 NA 38.1 64 The job classification of undergraduate academic advisors in the sample population closely approximates the area's of responsibility of the sample population. Those w ith no responsibility other than advisor are represented by the job classification of specialist. The percentage of undergraduate academic advisors classified by their job classification status is represented in Table 12. TABLE 12 Job Gassification of Undergraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population Job Gassification Number Percentage Sample MSU Sample MSU Specialist 10 34 13.0 3.1 Faculty 67 1077 87.0 96.9 Table 13 indicates the highest degree held by the undergraduate academic advisors in the sample population during the 1985-86 academic year. Nearly seven percent of the sample population indicated they had either a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science Degree, 68 percent indicated they had a Ph. D., while nearly 25 percent had a degree other than a B. S., B. A., or Ph. D.. 65 TABLE 13 Highest Degree Held by the Undegraduate Academic Advisors in the Sample Population Highest Degree Held Number Percentage 5 6.6 Ph. D. 52 68.5 other 20 24.9 B. A. - B. S. The number of years of undergraduate academic advising experience of members of the sample population were reported in Table 14. It was apparent that the percentages from year to year corresponded to w hat might be the normal status of an experienced undergraduate academic advising staff within a stable university advisement system. 66 TABLE 14 Number of Years of Undergradate Academic Advising of Members of the Sample Population Number of Years Number Percentages less than 1 year 1-2 years 3-4 years 5 7 8 6.5 9.1 10.4 0 - 4 years 20 26.0 5-6 years 7-8 years 9-10 years 8 5 6 10.4 6.5 7.8 5-10 years 19 24.7 11-12 years 13 + years 6 32 7.8 41.5 11 + years 38 49.3 SUMMARY This section indicates that there w ere no major differences in the background of the undergraduate academic advisors in the sample population when they w ere compared on the basis of Age. Sex. Racejob Classification. Areas of Responsibility, Highest Degree Held, and Years of Academic Advising Experience to the Michigan State University Academic Faculty and Staff. This indicates that the undergraduate academic advisors at Michigan State University were similar and any differences in their 67 perceptions of responsibilties of academic advisors, functions of undergraduate academic advisors, and influences on student development was not due to the composition of the undergraduate academic advising staff at Michigan State University. ANALYSIS OF DATA This section presents the results of the study in term s of responses to the survey instrum ent which was given to the undergraduate academic advisors in the sample population. The data of undergraduate academic advisors was analyzed to identify the perceptions of the undergraduate academic advisors in the sample in regard to (1) responsibilities of undergraduate academic advisors; (2) factors that influence student development; and (3) the responsiveness of the Michigan State University Undergraduate Academic Advising System to current student needs. The data from the sample population was also analyzed to compare undergraduate academic advisors who identify themselves as members of the faculty with term inal degrees with those who identify themselves as non-terminal degree members. Advising Responsibility of Undergraduate Academic Advisors Thirty - eight questions w ere included in the research instrum ent for the express purpose of indentifying perceptions of academic advisor responsibilities, role of the academic advisement system, and role on development of the total stu d e n t. The hypotheses: "there is a significant difference in the perception of the responsibilities of Michigan State 68 University undergraduate advisors relative to number of years of advising undergraduates, sex, age, race, and the various colleges ', was tested w ith these 38 questions. As reported in Table 13. the age category of the undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly in their responses to questions 34.1, 36.1.41.2, 44.1, 47.2,49.1,54.2.58.1.61.2, and 65.2 at the .05 level: 34.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Provide accurate information 36.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Know how and w hen to make referrals. and be familiar with referral sources. 41.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Monitor advisees' progress towards educational goals. 44.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Be realistic with advisees. 47.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Follow up on commitments made to advisees. 49.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references. 54.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Don't betray confidential information. 58.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Explain university academic regulations and requirem ents to students. 61.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students in exploring graduate and professional school courses. 65.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students with problems they encounter w ith university administrators and financial aid. A higher percentage of the 56 and over age group indicated it was very important th at advisors should know how and when to make referrals and should keep records of significant conversations compared to a lower percentage of age groups 40 and under and 41-55. A lower percentage of the 56 and over age group indicated it very important to not betray confidential information compard to a higher percentage of age groups 40 and under and 41-55. A higher percentage of the 40 and under age group indicated it w as very im portant that advisors w ere assisting students w ith 69 problems they encountered w ith university adm inistrators compared to a lower percentage of age groups 41-55 and 56 and over. TABLE 15 Advising Function by Age of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .05 Level Question Response Age Group Number Percentage Important 40 & under 41 to 55 4 8 16 30 Very Important 40 & under 41 to 55 56 & over 21 19 18 84 70 75 Important 40 & under 41 to 55 56 &over 10 10 4 40 37 17 Very Important 40 & under 41 to 55 56 & over 15 17 19 60 63 79 Not Important 40 & under 41 to 55 56 & over 7 6 1 29 22 4 Somewhat Important 40 & under 41 to 55 56 & over 11 13 15 46 48 66 Important 40 & under 41to55 8 7 32 26 Very Important 40 & under 41 to 55 17 20 68 74 Somewhat Important 40 & under 41to55 56 &over 0 2 3 0 7 12 Important 40 & under 41 to 55 56 &over 17 13 12 68 48 50 Very Important 40 & under 41 to 55 8 12 32 45 70 TABLE 15 - CONTINUED Advising Function by Age of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference O uestion Resoonse* 49.1 Important 58.1 61.2 65.2 Num ber 11 9 6 P ercentaee 44 33 25 40 & under 41 to 55 56 & over 6 7 10 24 26 42 Not Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 A over 2 4 4 9 18 20 Very Important 41 to 55 56 A over 11 7 50 35 Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 A over 14 12 6 56 46 65 Very Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 A over 9 11 15 36 42 65 Somewhat Important 40 A under 56 A over 1 4 4 17 Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 A over 7 11 5 28 42 22 Very Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 A over 17 13 13 68 50 56 Somewhat Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 Aover 11 3 3 44 11 13 Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 A over 11 16 14 44 62 61 Very Important 40 A under 41 to 55 56 Aover 1 6 5 4 23 22 Very Important 54.2 Aae Grouo 40 A under 41 to 55 56 & over 71 Several significant differences were found between male and female members of the sample population of undergraduate academic advisors in their perceptions of the responsibilities as undergraduate academic advisors. As shown in Table 16, responses to the following questions w ere significant at the .05 level: 33.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Be available; keep office hours and appointments. 34.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Provide accurate information. 35.1 - Should be Fulfilled - When in doubt, refer to catalog, advisor's handbook, etc.. 39.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Keep in frequent contact w ith advisees; take the initiative; do you always w ait for the student to come to you. 43.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Explore w ith the student reasons for poor academic performance and direct advisees to appropriate support services. 45.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Use all available information services. 49.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references. 54.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Don't betray confidential information. 54.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Don't betray confidential information. 63.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students in obtaining appropriate internship experience. A lower percentage of male group members w ere concerned about keeping records of student conversations and assisting students in gaining internship experiences than female group members. A higher percentage of male group members w ere concerned about not betraying confidential informaton than female group members. 72 TABLE 16 Advising Function by Sex of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .05 Level Question Response Sex Number Percentage Important male female 34 16 69 57 Very Important male female 12 10 24 26 Important male female 35 11 71 39 Very Important male female 12 16 24 57 Important male female 17 2 35 7 Very Important male female 32 25 65 89 39.2 Somewhat Important male female 20 6 42 22 43.2 Somewhat Important male female 11 0 22 0 Very Important male female 8 11 16 41 332 34.2 351 73 TABLE 16 - CONTINUED Advising Function by Sei of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .03 Level Question Response 49.2 34.1 34.2 63-2 Age Group Number Percentage Not Important male female 9 1 18 4 Somewhat Important male female 19 5 39 18 Important male female 13 13 31 46 Very Important male female 6 9 12 32 Not Important male female 3 7 7 32 Very Important male female 34 11 79 50 Not Important male female 2 .36 5 36 Important male female 15 3 35 14 Very Important male female 21 8 49 36 Somewhat Important male female 14 0 29 0 Very Important male female 7 10 14 38 74 The perception of the the responsibilities of an undergraduate academic advisor by the race of the sample population w ere reported in Table 17. The four responses that had a significant difference at the .05 level were: 37.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Dont’ refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified. 37.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Don't refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified. 63.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students in obtaining appropriate internship experience. 64.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students w ith problems they encounter w ith university faculty members. A higher percentage of minority group members indicated they found it not im portant if advisors were advising students too hastily compared to a lower percentage of non-minority group members. A lower percentage of minority group members indicated it was im portant to provide assistance in finding student internships and assistance w ith problems they were encountering w ith university faculty members compared to a higher percentage of non-minority group members. 75 TABLE 17 Advising Function by Race of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference Question Response Race Number Percentage minority non-minority 2 5 40 9 Somewhat Important minority non-minority 3 8 60 13 Not Important Important minority non-minority 0 27 0 46 Very Important minority non-minority 0 19 0 32 Not Important minority non-minority 2 2 40 3 Somewhat Important minority non-minority 3 11 60 19 Important 0 minority non-minority 36 0 61 Very Improtant minority 0 non-minority 10 0 17 Not Important minority non-minority 3 3 50 4 0 Somewhat Important minority non-minority 14 0 20 Important minority 1 non-minority 37 17 54 Not Important minority non-minority 2 2 33 3 Somewhat Important minority 1 non-minority 24 17 35 Very Important minority 0 non-minority 13 0 19 76 The responses to the questions on advising responsibility by the total years of advising experience of undergraduate academic advisors of the sample population indicates several responses w ith significant differences. These w ere reported in Table 18 and were: 29.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Establish a warm, genuine and open relationship. 32.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Establish rapport by remembering personal information about advisees. 36.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Know how and w hen to make referrals, and be familiar with referral sources. 49.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references. 52.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Be knowledgeable about career opportunities and job outlook for various majors. 65.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Assist students w ith problems they encounter w ith university adm inistrators and financial aid. A higher percentage of the two longer years of advising groups, 9-12 and 13+ years, indicated a willingness to develop w arm and genuine relationships w ith students: were exploring w ith students the reasons for poor academic performance; and kept records of conversations w ith students than the two shorter years of advising groups. 0-2 and 3-8 years. A higher percentage of years of advising groups 0-2 and 9-12 years indicated th at having a rapport w ith students was desirable compared to lower percentages for years of advising groups 3-8 and 13+ years. The middle years of advising groups. 3-8 and 9-12 years, had a higher percentage concerned about assisting students with problems encountered w ith university administrators and financial aid compared to lower percentages of years of advising groups 0-1 and 13+ years. 77 TABLE 18 Advising Function by Number of Years of Advising Experience Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .05 Level Question Response Grouping Number Percentage Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13 ♦ 7 9 3 13 58 43 25 34 Very Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13 ♦ 5 10 9 25 42 48 75 66 Somevhat Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 134 1 3 0 3 8 14 0 9 Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13* 8 12 8 17 67 57 60 53 Very Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13* 3 6 4 11 25 28 40 34 Somevhat Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13 + 1 8 19 8 3 Important Very Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13 + 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13 + A 1 1 9 19 75 67 58 59 2 3 4 12 17 14 33 38 IA 7 CONTINUED - TABLE 18 Advising Function by Number of Years of Advising Experience Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .05 Level Question Response Grouping 49.1 Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13* 6 7 5 8 50 33 42 24 0 -2 3 -8 9 -12 13* 3 6 3 12 25 28 25 38 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13* 5 15 5 15 42 71 42 47 Very Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13* 6 5 7 15 50 24 58 47 Somevhat Important 0 -2 3 -8 9-12 13* 1 5 0 2 8 24 0 7 Important 0 -2 3 -8 9 - 12 13* 9 11 5 25 75 52 45 80 Very Important 0 -2 3 -8 9 -12 13* 2 4 6 4 17 19 55 13 Very Important 52.1 Important 651 Percentage Number With but two exceptions, as indicated in Table 19, there w ere no significant differences between the responses of members of the undergraduate academic advisor sample population regarding their 79 perceptions of advising responsibilities by num ber of advisees assigned to the undergraduate academic advisor. A lower percentage of number of advisee group 21-40 indicated it was im portant to care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding and respect compared to higher percentage of num ber of advisee groups 0-20 and 41+ advisees. A lower percentage of the num ber of advisee group 40+ indicated it was im portant to categorize advisees' questions; are they seeking action, information, or involvement and understanding compared to a higher percentage of number of advisee groups 0-20 and and 2 1 -4 0 . TABLE 19 Advising Function by Number of Advisees Per Advisor Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .05 Level Question Response Grouping Number Percentage Important 0 -2 0 21-40 40 ♦ 12 4 6 32 50 22 Very Important 0 -2 0 21-40 40 + 24 4 21 65 50 78 Somewhat Important 0 -2 0 21-40 40 + 2 1 8 6 12 38 24 6 10 68 75 38 Very Important 0 -2 0 21-40 40 + 80 With but one exception, as indicated in Table 20, there w ere no significant differences between the responses of members of the sample population and their perceptions of advising responsibilities by the college. A higher percentage of advisors from Human Ecology indicated it was very important for advisors to care about advisees as people compared to a lower percentage from all the other college groups. 81 TABLE 20 Advising Function by College Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at .05 Lelvel Question Response 28.1 Not Important Important Very Important Grouping Number Percentage Ag&NatRes Arts & Letters Business Education Engineering Human Ecology Medicine James Madison Natural Science Soc Sci&Com University Coll 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 17 0 22 0 0 0 0 8 25 33 Ag&NatRes Arts & Letters Business Education Engineering Human Ecology Medicine James Madison Natural Science Soc Sci&Com University Coll 4 2 3 4 6 2 5 1 6 3 2 36 34 50 44 75 40 71 25 50 75 67 Ag&NatRes Arts & Letters Business Education Engineering Human Ecology Medicine James Madison Natural Science Soc Sci&Com University Coll 2 2 2 3 1 3 2 0 2 0 0 18 33 33 33 12 60 29 0 17 0 0 The hypothesis: "There is a significant difference in the perception of the academic advising responsibilities of an academic advisor w ith term inal 82 degree and those without term inal degrees", was tested using 38 questions on the survey instrum ent. The results are in Table 21. There w ere several significant differences between responses of undergraduate academic advisors by their highest degree held and their perception of the responsibility of the academic advisor, as indicated in Table 21. The questions w ith significant differences were: 34.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Provide accurate information. 36.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Know how and when to make referrals, and be familar w ith referral sources. 41.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Seek out advisees in informal settings. 43.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Explore with the student reasons for poor academic performance and direct advisees to appropriate support services. 34.1 - Should be Fulfilled - Don't betray confidential information. 54.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Don't betray confidential information. 61.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students in planning their academic program of study. 62.2 - Is Now Being Fulfilled - Assist students in exploring graduate and professional school courses. A higher percentage of the B. A. or B. S. degree group indicated it was very important that advisors provided students w ith accurate information; how and w here to make referrals and w ere familiar w ith referral sources; and w ere assisting students in planning their academic program of study compared to a lower percentage of the Ph. D. degree and the Other degree group. A lower percentage of the B. A. or B. S. degree group indicated it was important to seek out advisees in an informal setting compared to a higher percentage of the Ph. D and Other degree groups. A lower percentage of the B. A. or B. S. degree group indicated it was v ery important to help students in obtaining internship experiences and not to betray confidential information compared to a higher percentage of the Ph. D. and Other degree groups. A lower percentage of the Ph. D. degree group indicated it was very 83 important that advisors explored with students the reasons for poor academic performance compared to a higher percentage of the B. A. or B. S. and Other groups. TABLE 21 Advising Function by Highest Degree Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at the .05 Level Question Response Degree Grouping Number Percentage Important B. A. orB.S. PhD Other 2 34 9 40 65 47 Very Important B. A. or B. S. Ph.D. Other 3 17 8 60 33 42 36.2 Very Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 2 15 4 40 29 21 41.1 Not Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 14 1 0 27 6 Somewhat Important B. A. or B. S. Ph.D. Other 4 13 9 100 25 50 Important B. A. or B. S. Ph.D. Other 0 21 7 0 40 39 Somewhat Important B. A.or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 9 2 0 17 11 Very Important B. A. or B. S. Ph.D. Other 2 11 6 40 21 33 B. A. or B. S. Ph.D Other 1 5 4 33 11 25 34.2 43-2 54.1 Not Important 84 CONTINUED - TABLE 21 Advising Function by Highest Degree Grouping of Undergraduate Academic Advisor of Questions With Significant Difference at the .05 Level Question Response Degree Grouping Number Percentage Somewhat Important B. A. or B. S. Ph.D. Other 1 3 1 33 7 7 Very Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 1 36 8 33 78 50 Not Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 1 5 4 33 11 25 Somewhat Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 2 5 1 67 11 7 Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 11 7 0 24 43 Very Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 25 0 54 25 B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 5 2 0 10 11 Very Important B. A. or B. S. Ph.D. Other 2 32 10 67 62 53 Not Important B.A.or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 0 2 0 0 11 Somewhat Important B. A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 1 7 1 50 13 5 Very Important B.A. or B.S. Ph.D. Other 0 18 5 0 35 26 Somewhat Important 4 85 Tables 22-28, Appendix VI, provide detailed analysis of all 38 questions used to provide data for this study. Factors That Influence Student Development Ten questions, of the thirty-eight questions used to analyze advisor perceptions of responsibilities, were concerned w ith the development of the student. They were questions 4 0 ,4 2 ,4 3 ,4 8 ,5 2 , 57, 5 9 ,6 2 ,6 3 , and 64. An additional eighteen questions (10-27) were included in the research instrum ent for the purpose of providing supportive data. The responses to these questions w ere mixed and can be found in Tables 29-34 in Appendix VI. Sex, Highest Degree Held, Years of Advising Experience, and Race of the sample population of undergraduate academic advisors had responses to questions about student development that produced significant differences at the .05 level. In Table 16 the responses to question 43, "explore with the student reasons for poor academic performance and direct advisees to appropriate supportive services", and question 63, "assist students in obtaining appropriate internship experience", were indicated as significant for the grouping according to sex. Table 17 reported that responses to questions 63, "assist students in obtaining appropriate internship experience", and 64, "assist students with problems they encounter with faculty members," w ere significant for race groupings. Table 18 indicated that the responses to questions 43, "explore with the student reasons for poor academic performance and direct advisees to appropriate supportive services", and 48, "encourage advisees to consider and develop career alternatives w hen appropriate", produced a signficant difference for the years of academic advising grouping. Table 20 reported that questions 43, 86 "explore w ith the student reasons for poor academic performance and direct advisees to appropriate supportive services", and 62, "assist students in exploring graduate and professional school courses", w ere signifcant for the highest degree held grouping. The age and number of advisee groupings did not have responses that w ere significant. Tables 3 5 .3 6 ,3 7 ,3 8 , and 39 in Appendix VI show the responses to the research instrum ent questions (66 - 88) concerning the sample population's perceptions of the Michigan State University undergraduate advisement program. These questions were included in the survey instrum ent to provide additional support data for this study. As indicated in these five tables there w ere several questions w ith responses that were significantly different. Table 35 presents the responses by age of members of the sample population. Questions (68) "advising functions occupy a low status in my department." (significant difference between the 41-55 and 56 and over age groups) and (79) "faculty should receive additional compensation for academic advising in my college" (significant difference between the 40 and under and 56 and over age groups) were the only ones indicating a major difference between age category groups. The responses to questions about the Michigan State University undergraduate advising system by sex of members of the sample population of undergraduate academic advisors are represented in Table 36. A major difference was found in questions (81) "students go to offices other than mine to solve their academic problems." and (84) "academic advising takes too much of the time of full time faculty members". A major difference was found in only one question, (80) "generally, our students come only to sign up for courses, not for ongoing advising", 87 when the race of members of the sample population of undergraduate academic advisors was analyzed for their perceptions of the Michigan State Univesity undergraduate advisement system. The results are found in Table 37. Table 38 indicates the responses by the sample population by years of advising experience concerning the perception of the Michigan State University undergraduate academic advising system. A major difference was found for only one question: (74) "my lack of information about our academic advising program (available to students) interferes w ith my advising." (significant difference between the less than five years experience and the 11+ years of experience groups). Table 39 shows the perceptions of the sample population about the Michigan State University undergraduate advisement system by college assignment. As indicated in Table 33. a major difference was found for questions (68) "advising functions occupy a low status in my department", (Agriculture & Natural Resources, Arts & Letters. Engineering, Human Ecology. James Madison, and the University College indicated they strongly disagreed w ith the question compared to Business, Education, Medicine, and Natural Science who indicated they strongly agreed with the question), (83) "too many persons share an advising room w ith me", ( significant differences between the University College, Business, Natural Science. Education, Agriculture and Natural Resources, Medicine, and Social Science were indicated), and (83) "the absence of a centralized advisory office in my college causes confusion during the registration period" (significant differnces between James Madison, Business, and Medicine were indicated). The supportive data indicated that undergraduate academic advisors did not have many disagreements concerning outside influences on the 88 students or the overall advisement system at Michigan State University. "Advisement w as a low priority in my department" was the only concern w here more than one group indicated a significant difference. The analysis of the supportive data indicated that perceptions held by academic advisors concerning non-advising issues was consistent. Summary of Perceptions of the Responsibilities of an Academic Advisor The academic advisors were surveyed to determ ine their perceptions of the responsibilities of an academic advisor. Significant differences w ere found between selected groupings of the academic advisors in the sample population w ith respect to their perception of the responsibilities of an academic advisor. The following statements summarize the perceptions of the academic advisors. (1) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by age differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Thirty percent of age group 41 to 55 reported it was im portant that advisors should provide accurate information to students compared to 16% of the age group 40 and under. (b) Seventy percent of age group 41 to 55 reported it was very im portant that advisors should provide accurate information to students compared to 84% of the age group 40 and under and 75% of age group 56 and over. (c) Seventeen percent of age group 56 and over reported it was im portant that advisors should know how and w hen to make referrals, and be familiar with referral sources compared to 40% of the age group 40 and under and 37% of age group 41 to 55. 89 (d) Seventy-nine percent of age group 56 and over reported it was very im portant that advisors should know how and when to make referrals, and be familiar w ith referral sources compared to 60% of the age group 40 and under and 63% of age group 41 to 55. (e) Four percent of age group 56 and over reported it was not im portant t hat advisors were currently seeking out advisees in informal settings compared to 29% of the age group 40 and under and 22% of age group 41 to 55. (f) Sixty-six percent of age group 56 and over reported it was somewhat important that advisors were currently seeking out advisees in informal settings compared to 46% of the age group 40 and under and 48% of age group 41 to 55. (g) Twelve percent of age group 56 and over reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors were currently following up on commitments made to advisees compared to 0% of the age group 40 and under and 7%of age group 41 to 55(h) Sixty-eight percent of age group 40 and under reported it was im portant that advisors were currently following up on commitments made to advisees compared to 48% of the age group 41 to 55 and 50% of age group 56 and over. (i) Thirty-two percent of age group 40 and under reported it was very im portant that advisors were currently following up on commitments made to advisees compared to 45% of the age group 41 to 55. (j) Eleven percent of age group 40 and under reported it was im portant that advisors should keep an anecdotal record of 90 significant conversations for future references compared to 33% of the age group 41 to 33 and 23% of age group 36 and over. (k) Forty-two percent of age group 36 and over reported it was very important that advisors should keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references compared to 26% of the age group 41 to 33 and 24% of age group 40 and under. (1) Thirty-five percent of age group 56 and over reported it was very important that advisors w ere currently not betraying confidential information compared to 50% of the age group 41 to 55. (m) Forty-six percent of age group 41 to 55 reported it was important that advisors should explain university academic regulations and requirem ents of students compared to 56% of the age group 40 and under and 65% of age group 56 and over. (n) Four percent of age group under 40 reported it was somewhat important that advisors w ere currently assisting students in planning their academic program of study compared to 17% of the age group 56 and over. (o) Forty-two percent of age group 41 to 55 reported it was important that advisors w ere currently assisting students in planning their academic program of study compared to 22% of the age group 56 and over and 28% of the age group 40 and under. (p) Sixty-eight percent of age group 40 and under reported it was very important that advisors were currently assisting students in planning their academic program of study compared to 56% of the age group 56 and over and 50% of the age group 41 to 55. 91 (q) Forty-four percent of age group 40 and under reported it was somewhat important that advisors w ere currently assisting students with problems they encounter w ith university adm inistrators and financial aid compared to 13% of the age group 56 and over and 1 lx of the age group 41 to 55. (r) Forty-four percent of age group 40 and under reported it was im portant that advisors were currently assisting students with problems they encounter with university administrators and financial aid compared to 62% of the age group 56 and over and 61X of the age group 41 to 55. (s) Four percent of age group 40 and under reported it was very im portant that advisors were currently assisting students with problems they encounter w ith university administrators and financial aid compared to 22 X of the age group 56 and over and 23 X of the age group 41 to 55. (2) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by sex differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Four percent of the male group reported it was not important th at advisors were currently keeping an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references compared to 18X of the female group 40. (b) Thirty-nine percent of male group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors w ere keeping an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references compared to 18x of the female group. (c) Thirty-one percent of male group reported it was important that advisors were keeping an anecdotal record of significant 92 conversations for future references compared to 46% of the female group. (d) Twelve percent of male group reported it w as very im portant th at advisors w ere keeping an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references compared to 32% of the female group. (e) Seven percent of male group reported it was not important that advisors should not betray confidential information compared to 32% of the female group. (f) Seventy-nine percent of male group reported it was very im portant that advisors should not betray confidential information compared to 30% of the female group. (g) Five percent of male group reported it was not important that advisors were not betraying confidential information compared to 36%of the female group. (h) Thirty-five percent of male group reported it was important that advisors w ere not betraying confidential information compared to 14% of the female group. (i) Forty-nine percent of male group reported it was very im portant that advisors w ere not betraying confidential information compared to 36% of the female group. (j) Twenty-nine percent of male group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors w ere assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experience compared to 0% of the female group. (k) Fourteen percent of male group reported it was very im portant that advisors were assisting students in obtaining 93 appropriate internship experience compared to 38% of the female group. (3) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by race differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Forty percent of the minority group reported it was not im portant that advisors should not refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 9% of the non-minority group. (b) Sixty percent of the minority group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors should not refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 13% of the non-minority group. (c) Zero percent of the minority group reported it was important that advisors should not refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 46% of the non-minority group. (e) Zero percent of the minority group reported it was very im portant that advisors should not refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 32% of the non-minority group. (f) Forty percent of the minority group reported it was not im portant that advisors w ere referring students too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 3% of the non-minority group. (g) Sixty percent of the minority group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors w ere referring students too hastily; on the 94 other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 19% of the non-minority group. (h) Zero percent of the minority group reported it was important that advisors w ere referring students too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 61% of the non-minority group. (i) Zero percent of the minority group reported it was very im portant that advisors w ere referring students too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified compared to 17% of the non-minority group. (j) Fifty percent of the minority group reported it was not im portant that advisors w ere assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences compared to 4% of the non­ minority group. (k) Zero percent of the minority group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors w ere assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences compared to 20% of the non­ minority group. (1) Seventeen percent of the minority group reported it was im portant that advisors w ere assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences compared to 54% of the non­ minority group. (m) Thirty-three percent of the minority group reported it was not im portant that advisors were assisting students with problems they w ere encountering with faculty members compared to 3% of the non-minority group. 95 (n) Seventeen percent of the minority group reported it was somewhat important that advisors w ere assisting students w ith problems they w ere encountering with faculty members compared to 35% of the non-minority group. (o) Zero percent of the minority group reported it was very important that advisors were assisting students with problems they w ere encountering with faculty members compared to 19% of the non-minority group. (4) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by highest degree held differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Sixty-five percent of the Ph. D. group reported it was important th at advisors were providing students with accurate information compared to 40% of the B. A. and B. S. group and 47% of the other degree group. (b) Sixty percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was very im portant that advisors were providing students with accurate information compared to 33% of the Ph. D. group and 42% of the other degree group. (c) Forty percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was very im portant that advisors knew how and when to make referrals, and w ere familiar with referral sources compared to 29% of the Ph. D. group and 21 %of the other degree group. (d) Twenty-seven percent of the Ph. D. group reported it was not im portant that advisors should seek out advisees in informal settings compared to 0% of the B. A. and B. S. group and 6% of the other degree group. 96 (e) One hundred percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was somewhat important t hat advisors should seek out advisees in informal settings compared to 25% of the Ph. D. group and 50% of the other degree group. (f) Zero percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was important that advisors should seek out advisees in informal settings compared to 40% of the Ph. D. group and 39% of the other degree group. (g) Zero percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was somewhat important that advisors were exploring with the student reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to the appropriate support services compared to 17% of the Ph. D. group and 11 %of the other degree group. (h) Twenty-one percent of the Ph. D. group reported it was very important that advisors were exploring with the student reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to the appropriate support services compared to 40% of the B. A. and B. S. group and 33% of the other degree group. (i) Eleven percent of the Ph. D. group reported it was not important that advisors should not betray confidential information compared to 33% of the B. A. and B. S. group and 25% of the other degree group. (j) Thirty-three percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was somewhat important that advisors should not betray confidential information compared to 7% of the Ph. D. group and 7% of the other degree group. 97 (k) Seventy-eight percent of the Ph. D. group reported it was v ery im portant that advisors should not betray confidential information compared to 33% of the B. A. and B. S. group and 30% of the other degree group. (1) Eleven percent of the Ph. D. group reported it was not im portant that advisors were not betraying confidential information compared to 33% of the B. A. and B. S. group and 23% of the other degree group. (m) Sizty-seven percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors w ere not betraying confidential information compared to 11 %of the Ph. D. group and 7% of the other degree group. (n) Zero percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was im portant th at advisors w ere not betraying confidential information compared to 24% of the Ph. D. group and 43% of the other degree group. (o) Zero percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was very important that advisors w ere not betraying confidential information compared to 34% of the Ph. D. group and 23% of the other degree group. (p) Zero percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was somewhat im portant that advisors were assisting students in planning their academic program of study compared to 11 %of the Ph. D. group and 10% of the other degree group. (q) Sixty-seven percent of the B. A. and B. S. group reported it was very important that advisors w ere assisting students in 98 planning their academic program of study compared to 53% of the other degree group. (r) Eleven percent of the other degree group reported it was not important that advisors were assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences compared to 0% of the Ph. D. group and 0% of the B. A. and B. S. group. (s) Fifty percent of the B. A. and B. S. degree group reported it was somewhat important that advisors w ere assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences compared to 13% of the Ph. D. group and 5% of the other group. (t) Zero percent of the B. A. and B. S. degree group reported it was very important that advisors w ere assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences compared to 35% of the Ph. D. group and 26% of the other group. (5) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by number of years of advising experience differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Twenty-five percent of advising experience group 9-12 years and 34% of the advising experience group 13 ♦ years reported it was im portant that advisors should establish a warm, genuine, and open relations compared to 58% of the advising experience group 0-2 years and 43% of advising experience group 3-8 years. (b) Seventy-five percent of advising experience group 9-12 years and sixty-six percent of the advising experience group 13 + years reported it was v ery important that advisors should establish a warm, genuine, and open relations compared to 42% of the advising experience group 0-2 years and 48% of advising experience group 3-8 years. 99 (c) Zero percent of advising experience group 9-12 years reported it was somewhat important that advisors should establish rapport by remembering personal information about advisees compared to 14% of advising experience group 3-8 years. (d) Sixty-seven percent of advising experience group 0-2 years reported it was important that advisors should establish a rapport by personal remembering personal information about advisees compared to 37% of the advising experience group 3-8 years, and 33% of advising experience group 13+ years. (e) Forty percent of advising experience group 9-12 years reported it was very important that advisors should establish a rapport by personal remembering personal information about advisees compared to 23% of the advising experience group 0-2 years, and 28% of advising experience group 13+ years. (f) Nineteen percent of advising experience group 3-8 years reported it was somewhat important th at advisors were exploring w ith the student reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to appropriate support services compared to 8% of the advising experience group 0-2 years. 8% of the advising experience group 9-12 and 3% of advising experience group 13+ years. (g) Seventy-five percent of advising experience group 0-2 years reported it was im portant that advisors w ere exploring with the student reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to appropriate support services compared to 38% of the advising experience group 9-12 and 39% of advising experience group 13+years. 100 (h) Seventeen percent of advising experience group 0-2 years and 14% of the advising experience group 3-8 years reported it was very im portant that advisors w ere exploring w ith the student reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to appropriate support services compared to 38% of the advising experience group 13+ years and 33% of the advising experience group 9-12. (i) T hirty-three percent of advising experience group 3-8 years reported and 24% of the advising group 13+ years reported it was im portant that advisors should keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references compared to 30% of the advising experience group 0-2 years and 42% of the advising experience group 13+ years. (j) Thirty-eight percent of the advising group 13+ years reported it w as v ery im portant that advisors should keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references compared to 23% of the advising experience group 0-2 years, 28% of the advising experience group 3-8 years, and 25% of the advising experience group 9-12 years. (k) Seventy-one percent of advising experience group 3-8 years reported it was important that advisors should be knowledgeable about career opportunities and job outlook for various majors compared to 42 %of the advising experience group 0-2 years, 42% of the advising experience group 9-12 years, and 47% of the advising experience group 13+ years. (1) Twenty-four percent of advising experience group 3-8 years reported it was v ery important that advisors should be 101 knowledgeable about career opportunities and job outlook for various majors compared to 50% of the advising experience group 0-2 years, 58% of the advising experience group 9-12 years, and 47% of the advising experience group 13+ years. (m) Twenty-four percent of advising experience group 3-8 years reported it was somewhat important that advisors should assist students with problems they encounter with university administrators and financial aid compared to 8% of the advising experience group 0-2 years. 0% of the advising experience group 9-12 years, and 7% of the advising experience group 13+ years. (n) Fifty-two percent of advising experience group 3-8 years and 45% of advising experience group 9-12 years reported it was im portant that advisors should assist students with problems they encounter with university administrators and financial aid compared to 75% of the advising experience group 0-2 years and 80% of the advising experience group 13+ years. (o) Fifty-five percent of advising experience group 9-12 years reported it was very important that advisors should assist students w ith problems they encounter with university administrators and financial aid compared to 17% of the advising experience group 0-2 years, 19% of the advising experience group 3-8 years, and 13% of the advising experience group 13+ years. (6) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by number of advisees served differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Fifty percent of the advisee served group 21-40 reported it was important that advisors should care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect compared to 102 32% of the advisee served group 0-20 and 22% of advisee served group 40+. (b) Fifty percent of the advisee served group 21-40 reported it was very im portant that advisors should care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect compared to 63% of the advisee served group 0-20 and 78% of advisee served group 40+. (c) Thirty-eight percent of the advisee served group 40+ reported it was somewhat important that advisors should categorize advisees' questions; are they seeking action, information, or involvement and understanding compared to 6% of the advisee served group 0-20 and 12% of advisee served group 21-40. (d) Thirty-eight percent of the advisee served group 40+ reported it was very important that advisors should categorize advisees' questions; are they seeking action, information, or involvement and understanding compared to 68% of the advisee served group 0-20 and 75% of advisee served group 21-40. (7) Academic Advisor Group members grouped by college differed significantly in the following ways: (a) Seventeen percent of the college group Arts & Letters, 22% of college group Education, 8% of college group Natural Science, 25% of college group Social Science and Communication, and 33% of college group University College reported it was not important that advisors should care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect compared to 0% for all other college groups. 103 (b) College groups Business (50%), Engineering (75%), Medicine (71 %), Natural Science (50%), Social Science and Communication (75%), and University College (67%) reported it was important that advisors should care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect compared to less than 44% for all other college groups. (c) Sixty percent of the college group Human Ecology reported it was very im portant that advisors should care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect compared to 33% or less for all other college groups. Summary of Personal Characteristics The following statem ents summarize the personal characteristics of the undergraduate academic advisors in the sample: (1) Undergraduate Academic Advisor Group Members did not differ significantly from Michigan State University Faculty and Staff members w ith respect to their sex. (2) Undergraduate Academic Advisor Group Members did not differ significantly from Michigan State University Faculty and Staff members w ith respect to their age. (3) Undergraduate Academic Advisor Group Members did not differ significantly from Michigan State University Faculty and Staff members w ith respect to their race. (4) Undergraduate Academic Advisor Group Members did not differ significantly from Michigan State University Faculty and Staff members w ith respect to their highest degree held. 104 (4) Undergraduate Academic Advisor Group Members did not differ significantly from Michigan State University Faculty and Staff members w ith respect to their job classification. (5) Undergraduate Academic Advisor Group Members did not differ significantly from Michigan State University Faculty and Staff members with respect to area of responsibility. Summary of the Role of the Academic Advisor The following statem ents summarize the role of the academic advisor: (1) In the late 1950‘s and early 1960‘s, the role of the academic advisor was being debated. There was no concensus of the responsibility of an academic advisor among the professional community. (2) In the late 1970‘s and early 1980's, the role of the academic advisor was again being debated. The changing student and increased emphasis on development of the total student had required a new and more in-depth debate on the responsibilities of those who w ere part of the advisement system. (3) The function of an academic advisor included: assisting the student with their academic program, providing information about the regulations of the institutions, assisting the student to develop academic skills, advising the student on certain personal matters, and assisting the student to develop short- and long-range goals and plans to meet those goals (academic, career, and personal). These functions were a composite and were not reflected in any concensus. 105 Summary of Who Should Do Academic Advising The following statem ents summarize who should do academic advising: (1) In the late 1970's and early 1980 s, a debate was being waged in the professional community over who should be advising students, faculty members or personnel specialists. (2) As late as 1982,79 percent of all advising programs were maintained by faculty members. It was felt that faculty members were the prim ary shapers of the academic environment. (3) Faculty advisors had a more "academic" view of advisement and were more inclined to base their advise on academic advancement. (4) In the 1970 s and 1980 s, professional personnel specialists w ere becoming more acceptable as academic advisors. (5) In the mid-1980's, the literature had just begun to address the issue of professional personnel specialists doing academic advising. (6) In 1985 there was no clear definition of who should be advising students or w hat the roles and responsibilities of the advisor should be. 106 Summary of What Had Been the Factors That Made Academic Advising Effective The following statem ents summarize w hat had been the factors that made academic advising effective: (1) In 1970 and 1980, academic advisement was shifting toward advising the total student. (2) There was no debate over the factors that were part of an effective advisement effort. (3) An effective academic advising program should have the following components: interested personnel doing the advisement, one-onone advisement, interest in the students, commitment to shortand long-term planning for students, well prepared advisors, special programs to meet specific student needs, and be directed at developing the total student. (4) The institution had to be committed and support the advisement program. 107 Summary of What Were the Factors That Affected Student Attrition The following statem ents summarize w hat were the factors that affected student attrition: (1) Student attrition became a major problem in the mid-1960's. (2) In the 1960‘s, graduation rates were in the mid 50 percent range. (3) Issues that w ere vital to keeping potential drop-out students in school included: long-range career planning, academic program selection, improvement and development of study skills, tutorial and academic support assistance, financial aid advisement and assistance, placement, and personal problem advisement. Summary of What Was Currently Being Done by Colleges and Universities to Make Academic Advising More Effective The following statem ents summarize the current efforts of colleges and universities to make academic advising more effective: (1) Problems with current academic advising efforts included: a lack of pre-college preparation by students, poor orientation and training for advisors, and lack of student awareness and knowledge of academic advising resources. (2) The literature review indicated that little research had been conducted about specific academic advising services. (3) Studies indicated that students did not know about the academic advisement program at institutions of higher learning. (4) Studies indicated that students were discontent over the academic advising systems. 108 (5) Some colleges w ere moving to use more professional personnel specialists. (6) The literature revealed that a good advising system would have the following components: well developed, institutional commitment, and in-service training for all advisors. Chapter Five CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS This has been a study to determine if the perceptions of undergraduate academic advisors differ enough to impact on the academic advising process by selected undergraduate academic advisors at Michigan State University. A secondary purpose was to determine if certain demographic variables differentiate advisors' and faculty advisors' perceptions of students' academic advising needs. The final purpose was to determine the factors or problems that prevent or limit the fulfillment of academic advising as perceived by undergraduate academic advisors. The review of literature revealed w hat had been the accepted definitions of academic advising; the role of the academic advisor; who should do academic advising; w hat were the factors that affected student attrition; w hat had been the factors that made academic advising effective; and w hat was currently being done by colleges and universities to make academic advising more effective. The prim ary purpose of this study was to determine and compare the academic advising needs of students as perceived by selected undergraduate academic advisors at Michigan State University. A secondary purpose w as to determine if certain demographic variables differentiate advisors' and faculty advisors' perceptions of students' academic advising needs, and, finally, to determine the factors or problems that prevent or limit the fulfillment of academic advising as perceived by undergraduate academic advisors. They w ere compared on the basis of: (1) personal characteristics, including (a) their sei; (b) their ethnic background; (c) their highest degree held; (d) their job classification; (e) their age; and (f) their area of responsibility; (2) their perception of the responsibilities of an academic 109 110 advisor; (3) their perception of the factors that influence student attrition; and (4) their perceptions of the Michigan State University undergraduate advising system. The comparisons were made to determine w hether any significant differences existed between the members of the sample population and their perceptions of academic advising. This chapter will provide the conclusions and implications of this study. Summary of What Had Been the Accepted Definitions of Academic Advising The following statem ents summarize the accepted definitions of academic advising: (1) Historically, academic advising has been a recent concern of institutions of higher learning. At the beginning of the tw entieth century, institutions began to be concerned about the development of the student. The trend of a more diverse student population attending college had been national and across all types of institutions of higher education. (2) In the early 1980's, the needs of students had changed drastically and had taken new directions. (3) Historically, academic advising had been a structured program of providing information about course requirem ents and scheduling classes. (4) Beginning in the 1970 s, academic advising began to deal w ith the total student. It had become an on-going effort which was the responsibility of both the student and the advisor. Ill (5) Academic advisement had no one definition, but a variety of definitions. They ranged from providing a structured program of advisement of courses and classes that would lead to graduation to a detailed process that would provide assistance to students so they could graduate, as well as a develop as a total person. (6) As late as the mid-1980 s, no clear advisement process had been developed or accepted by the educational community. CONCLUSIONS Five hypotheses, as stated on pages 17 and 18, provided the basis for this study. The conclusions were drawn from the findings as they related to the hypotheses. Conclusions Relative to Hypothesis Number One Null Hypothesis Number 1 stated that "There is no significant difference in the perception of the responsibilities of Michigan State University undergraduate academic advisors relative to the num ber of years advising undergraduates, sex, age, race, and the various colleges." This null hypothesis was tested by the responses to thirty-eight questions in the research instrum ent. The null hypothesis would be rejected and the hypothesis accepted and regarded as true if the responses given by undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly when compared by sex, age, race, num ber of advisees, num ber of years advising, and college served. 112 It was found that undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly in the following ways: sex: (1) keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references (2) not betray confidential information (3) assist students in obtaining appropriate internship experience age: (1) provide accurate information to students (2) know how and w hen to make referrals, and be familiar w ith referral sources (3) seek out advisees in informal settings (4) follow up on commitments made to advisees (3) keep anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references (6) not betray confidential information (7) explain university academic regulations and requirem ents (8) assist students in planning academic program of study (9) assist students with problems they encounter w ith university adm inistrators and financial aid race: (1) nor refer too hastily; on the other hand, don't attem pt to handle situations for which you are not qualified (2) assist students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences (3) assist students with problems they w ere encountering with faculty members number of advisees: (1) care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect (2) 113 categorize advisees' questions; are they seeking action, information, or involvement and understanding number of years: (1) establish warm, genuine and open relations (2) establish rapport by remembering personal information advisees (3) explore reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to appropriate services (4) keep an anecdotal record of significant conversations for future references (3) knowledgeable about career opportunities and job outlook for various majors (6) assist students with problems they encounter with university administrators and financial aid college: (1) care about advisees as people by showing empathy, understanding, and respect Significant differences w ere found for many of the questions. This null hypothesis was therefore rejected and the hypothesis accepted.. Within groupings of sex, race, age, and number of years of experience a lack of concensus of the perceptions of the responsibilities of an undergraduate academic advisor exists. Within groupings of num ber of advisees and college served a lack of concensus of the perceptions of the responsibilities of an undergraduate academic advisor exists. 114 Conclusions Relative to Hypothesis Number Two Null Hypothesis Number 2 stated that: “There is no significant difference in the perceptions of the undergraduate advising system within the undergraduate advising staff at Michigan State University." This null hypothesis was tested by the responses to thirty-eight questions in the research instrument. The null hypothesis would be rejected and the hypothesis accepted and regarded as true if the responses given by the undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly between sex, age, race, number of years of advising, num ber of advisees served, college served, and highest degree held groupings. Significant differences between groupings w ere found in 45 percent of the questions. Therefore the null hypothesis was rejected and the hypothesis was accepted. Conclusions Relative to Hypothesis Number Three Null Hypothesis Number 3 stated that: "There is no significant difference in the perceptions held by academic advisors at Michigan State University relative to the role the university environment and student needs play in student development and the effectiveness of academic advising at impacting student development." This null hypothesis was tested by the response to ten of the questions on the research instrument. The null hypothesis would be rejected, and the hypothesis accepted and regarded as true if the responses given by the undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly between age, sex, race, number of advisees, 115 number of years advising experience, college served, and highest degree held groupings. Significant differences between groupings w ere found in 50 percent of the questions. Therefore the null hypothesis was rejected and the hypothesis accepted. Conclusions Relative to Hypothesis Number Four Null Hypothesis Number 4 stated that: 'There is no significant difference in the perception of academic advisors at Michigan State University relative to the role the advisor plays in influencing a students' decision to stay at Michigan State University.'' The null hypothesis would be rejected, and the hypothesis accepted and regarded as true if the responses given by the undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly between sex, age, race, number of advisees, number of years advising experience, college served, and highest degree held groupings. No significant differences between groupings were found. Therefore the null hypothesis w as accepted. Conclusions Relative to Hypothesis Number Five Null Hypothesis Number 5 stated that: "There is no significant difference in the perception of the academic advising responsibilities of an academic advisor with a terminal degree and those w ithout terminal degrees." This null hypothesis was tested by the responses to thirty-eight of the questions on the research instrument. 116 The null hypothesis would be rejected, and the hypothesis accepted and regarded as true if the responses given by the undergraduate academic advisors differed significantly between terminal and non-terminal degree status of the advisors. It was found that undergraduate academic advisors w ith terminal degrees differed from non-term inal degree undergraduate academic advisors as follows: (1) w ere providing students accurate information; (2) knew how and when to make referrals and w ere familiar with referral sources; (3) should seek out advisees in informal settings; (4) were ezploring w ith the student reasons for poor academic performance and directing advisees to the appropriate support services; (3) should not betray confidential information; (6) were assisting students in planning their academic program of study; and (7) were assisting students in obtaining appropriate internship experiences. Significant differences between terminal and non-terminal groups were found in 18 percent of the questions. Therefore the null hypothesis was rejected and the hypothesis was accepted. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY Several implications resulted from the study and are listed as follows: 1. Historically, academic advising has been a function of faculty members with the prim ary purpose being to facilitate academic progress. The change to a more diverse student body and emphasis on the development of the total student would appear to make academic advising more than assigning classes or monitoring academic progress. Therefore, 117 should institutions of higher learning begin to address the issue of advisement as it pertains to student growth and development? This might be accomplished by the introduction of a well structured academic advisement system, including training for all advisors, institutional-wide advisement standards, administrative commitment, and individualized programs that would monitor progress of students from admission to graduation. 2. There was a lack of a clear and concise definition of academic advising or who should be performing the advisement function. There w ere an unlimited num ber of definitions for academic advising. This would imply that professionals in the advisement field w ere not sure of what was going on or w hat should be happening with student advisement. Therefore, it would seem that if institutions were going to successfully address the advisement problem the professional community should come to some agreement concerning w hat academic advisement consisted of and who would best be capable of serving the academic advisement system. This could be accomplished by arriving at a concensus of a definition of academic advisement, w hat it is and who should be doing the advising. An institutional definition of advising, w ith clear lines of responsibility for the delivery of advising functions, could not only provide a basis of evaluation, but could also provide the framework for a coherent program whose purposes and goals are clearly understood by students and faculty. Such models should be developed and implemented. 3. The published data infers that the academic advising function was more than having a knowledge of a specific subject area. The data insisted on the need for a more total student and institutional approach and hinted at the fact th at faculty do not necessarily know all they should about the 118 institution. Therefore, it can be inferred that advisors need in-service education so they can more accurately inform advisees about academic opportunities, as well as other more general types of information. 4 . The findings of this study concluded that academic advisors working w ithin the same system do not have a common understanding of the responsibilities of the academic advisor. They appear to be handling the advisement function independently of any organized university system. The result appears to be that the advisement a student receives is totally dependent on who is doing the advising. 5. The findings of this study concluded that academic advisors with terminal degrees handle the advisement responsibility with an emphasis on the "academic" student while those academic advisors without non-terminal degrees are more concerned with development of the student as a person. These results indicate that students requiring more than class selection are better served by non-terminal degree advisors. 6. The findings of this study concluded that minority advisors tend to be less concerned w ith students receiving non-academic experiences to enhance their college experience. If minority students were being advised by minority advisors, the implications could have significant impact on the status of minority graduates as they attem pt to enter the competitive world which may require non-academic competencies. 7. The findings of this study suggest that older advisors tend to be more conservative in their approach to advisement. This would appear to be consistent with human nature. If the institution would begin an on-going inservice training program, such issues could easily be addressed. 119 8. The findings of this study suggest that female advisors are more likely to be concerned about the personal development of the student. They also appear to be more organized in their approach to advisement. 9. Additional studies need to be conducted to determine (a) factors that contribute to satisfying and dissatisfying experiences in academic advising for students and faculty to provide information concerning elements that should compose a functioning academic advisement system that would serve the student and the institution; (b) how academic advisement needs can be best implemented through faculty, professional advisors, peer advising, computer-assisted advising and group advising to measure comparative effectiveness of different delivery systems; (c) w hat are the factors causing such a wide-range of perceptions towards academic advising, to provide much valuable information for those attempting to develop in-service programs for academic advisors; and (d) which factors truly make a difference in developing students, and how can advisors impact on those factors to assist those institutions attempting to implement developmental programs for students having trouble with college life. APPENDICES APPENDIX I 120 APPENDIX I /m Agricultural & Extension Education Michigan State University 4 1 0 Agriculture Hall East Lansing, Michigan 4 8 8 2 4 - 1 0 3 9 (517) 3 5 5 - 6 5 8 0 May 26, 1987 D ea r Jury: I am conducting a research study to compare the perceptions of Academic Advisors c on cerning student advising at Michigan State University. You have been chosen to serve on a jury for the purpose of validating the instrument items, to assist in the improvement of the overall quality of the instrument and to make suggestions for the clarification of any ambiguous items. Please indicate you response by placing a check m ark